In and Out
by Elanor Joy
Summary: Angel needed help and Darry was there. She disappeared, but stayed in his mind. Then she appears in his living room a month later. He’s falling in love but she has reservations.
1. In and Out

_So it SHOULD be a one-shot thing, I think. I dunno. We'll have to see, huh? Please review. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders or any of the characters that S.E. Hinton invented. If I could write best sellers do you think I would be posting themhere? **

**Ponyboy's POV**

We were walking home from the Nightly Double. Half the gang was anyway, Two Bit was with one of his blondes, and Soda had been spending a lot of time working extra shifts and the DX lately. He said it kept him busy, but I couldn't understand why he needed to be busy all the time in the first place. I kinda missed him. Not that I would admit it to a rock, but I did. But Steve and Darry were with me, odd as it was. After all, Steve was Soda's best friend, and though he was starting to forget of thinking of me as a tag-a-long, we still weren't on that great of terms. It had been Darrys idea to go to a movie, and Steve and I were the only ones there when he had decided he wanted to go to one. I had no problem with it, and Steve said he didn't have anything better to do, so that's how we all ended up going together. I'll never forget what happened on the way home.

We were walking, clowning around, yakking about who was with who and why, the usual when a girl came bolting out of one of the houses about a half a block or so ahead of us. From where we were we could see that her shirt was ripped up and so was the skirt she was wearing and she was running like the devil was after her. The guy after her was big and burly and quick. He caught her easy in the middle of the street. Darry had picked up his pace and since we were following him we were close enough to hear what the guy was saying to her, which was a bunch of unprintable things which I won't even get into. He had her wrists caught in his hands and was lifting her off the ground. She was shaking pretty bad, but she didn't say anything, not even a whimper when he told her exactly what he was plannin' on doing with her. I glanced over at Darry. He doesn't like it when guys pick on girls that mind. I could see the blood rushing to his face and his hands tightening into fists that made the veins on his arms stick out. The guy said something real bad to the girl and who glared at him and hissed something real fierce like at him, followed by her spiting in his face. The guy shook with rage and he threw her to the ground hard, making her gasp. He started yelling and kicking her, hitting her square in the head a few time, but not for long. Darry got real mad. He rushed at the guy and landed a shattering punch on him. The guy turned around and saw us three standin' there looking all tough. Out of nowhere Steve handed me a broken bottle. It was great watching him run off, me and Steve hollering like wild Indians and running after him. When he jumped in a car about two blocks away and drove off toward downtown we stopped and went back to Darry. I was amazed at what I saw when we got back to him.

He had knelt down next to the girl and had put his jeans jacket around her shoulders. She was shaking something awful, and he was talking to her like he was gentling a horse. She had dark hair, real long, and wavy, ending in curly wisps. I couldn't see her face, because her head was lying in Darrys shoulder and her hair hung around it like a curtain. I will never in all my born days forget how gentle Darry was being. He was combing his fingers through her hair, and I wondered briefly if it was as soft and silky as it looked. He was murmuring into the top of her head, telling her that it was okay, and that the guy was gone, and that no one would hurt her now, and not to cry because it was okay now, honest. When he heard us coming, he glanced up, kind of worriedly and mouthed the word "gone". We nodded and he nodded too.

"You okay, honey?" He asked his voice soft and mellow. She went kinda stiff in his arms.

"I'm not your honey." Her voice was rough, as if she was used to saying that a lot.

"Didn't mean it that way. I just don't know your name."

"Angel." Her voice was soft and low, kind of sultry. She moved her head from his shoulder, shaking her hair away from her face. She had big blue-green eyes fringed with long, dark lashes.

"I'm Darrell Curtis. That's Ponyboy, my brother, and he's Steve." He used the hand that he'd been stroking her hair with to point us out. She attempted to smile.

"Nice to meet you." Neither of us said anything.

"Thanks for running him off." She pushed away from Darry wrapping his jacket more tightly around her. She swayed a bit and put a hand to her head.

"Did you know the guy?" Darry asked her ask he stood up and offered her his hand. She accepted it and Darry pulled her up as easily as he would a two year kid.

"I—Um...Yeah, a little." She didn't let go of his hand right away, hanging on to it, her eyes bright and almost feverish.

"He gonna be uptight about us helping you out?" He looked down at their clasped hands like it was the first time he noticed, but said nothing. She followed his gaze and looked at their hands like one didn't belong to her before quickly withdrawing hers and putting it to her head again.

"No. He—Well...I don't think so...This isn't--" And she fell over, just like that. Just went flop, like a rag doll or something. If Darry hadn't been standing right there she woulda broken her head on the pavement. But Darry caught with such ease that I could swear he practiced, like he just went all over the place looking for fainting girls to catch. He looked at her sagging against him, and then at us, and then at her again.

"What do I do with her?" Steve looked at her appraisingly.

"Take her home. Have some fun—" He didn't get any further because Darry smacked him real hard on the back of his head with his free hand. He looked at me. I shrugged. He stuck his arm beneath her legs and lifted her all the way up and started towards home.

**Darry's POV**

I don't plan things like this, honest. I wish I was like other guys. I wish I could just leave well enough alone. But no, I'm "Superman" I can't help but get mad when girls are being taken advantage of. Seriously though, you should've heard the things the guy was saying. It made Ponyboy turn so red you woulda thought he was being boiled or something. I can't help it if that stuff makes me mad.

So, I decked him. He was a real tough guy. I'll give him that much. Normally when I get mad and I hit someone they pass out cold on the street. I can hit pretty dang hard. He was smart to run. The second hit would have landed him in the hospital. Ponyboy and Steve ran him off pretty far too. I doubted he'd be back for a while. I had time to see if she was okay.

That wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. I should have known better than to approach a scared girl. Scared girls are like wounded animals. They're real hard to get calmed down enough for you to see if they're okay. She was propped up on one elbow, a hand clutching her shirt closed, and her hair hanging around all over. It was long, but the front was cut so of she ever put it up, little bits would hang in her face. She was positioned so that she could flee at any minute. I didn't know what to do really, but she was shaking really, really hard, so I took off my jacket and crouched to wrap it around her shoulders. She drew away from me it a frenzied, fluid motion, clutching her shirt closed tighter.

"Hey now," I whispered, "It's okay. I won't hurt you." She stared at me with big, aqua colored, terrified eyes.

"He's gone. My buddies ran him off, didn't you see?" I knelt completely in the middle of the road, extending my jacket to her.

"I won't hurt you. I swear, I won't hurt you." She didn't stop shaking, but she loosened up a little bit. I reached out to her and she didn't shy away.

"Are you okay?" She nodded a little bit.

"Fine." Her voice was shaking too. I gently put my jacket around her shoulders and left my arm around her. Suddenly, without warning, she launched herself into my arms. I heard her stifling a sob and instinctively started running my fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face and stroking it. I kept my arm wrapped tightly around her, holding her close to me. She laid her head on my shoulder and kept it there. She was trembling like leaf and I was so wrapped up trying to get her to stop I didn't hear Ponyboy and Steve coming until they were right in front of me. Steve was staring at me, gobsmacked, as was Ponyboy. I mouthed the word "gone" and when they nodded I sighed inside. I tried to talk to her and she got all stiff and pushed away from me. She was used to fighting off boys, with a face like that I'm sure of it. She kept putting her hand to her head and you'd think all the time I'd spent with Pony when he had concussion that I'd know when she was gonna pass out. But I couldn't tell, and one second she was standing up, talking, and the next she was falling. I caught her easily; the gang doesn't call me Muscles for nothing. She was really light and I wondered briefly if she got enough to eat. Two minutes later, after a crude remark from Steve, I was walking home, with a girl in my arms. Sodapop was gonna pass out when we walked in the door.

You see, I don't bring girls home, conscious or otherwise. I hadn't since the eleventh grade. It's not that they didn't like me; I couldn't shake some of them off. I'm not being conceited either. That's just the plain truth of it. I guess I got sick of how catty most of them are and all that high pitched giggling really gives me a headache, ya know? I went out with one or two, every now and then, but nothing serious ever came of it. And then when Mom and Dad died I just stopped paying attention to them all together. I didn't have time for a girl. I didn't have time for just about anything else either. Two jobs aren't that easy to handle and when you come home from them all you want to do is drop dead for a couple eight hours. And then the first time in six months that I decide to have any fun, whammy, I end up walking into my living room with a girl lying in my arms. How do I do it?

I sure wish I had had a camera to capture the look on Soda's face when I waltzed in carrying an unconscious, real pretty girl. His jaw kinda dropped, and his eyebrows almost disappeared, they raised up so high. But he wiped the shock off his face pretty quick and cocked an eyebrow at me, grinning.

"And how was the movie?"

"It was okay. No plot, just a bunch of girls in swimsuits."

"I thought you didn't like that kind of thing."

"I don't."

"Who's that?"

"Her name's Angel." At this point Pony couldn't stand our nonchalant conversation any longer.

"A guy was beating her up in the middle of the street and Darry got mad a socked him real good. Me and Steve ran him clear down two blocks and when we get back, there's Darry, holdin' her and petting her hair. We walk up, she stands up and falls over. Superman over there catches her like she's a football and WHAM! Here we are."

For a kid that doesn't talk that much he can sure let loose sometimes.

"Don't she got a house?" I pushed past him and walked into my room, which is generally the cleanest one in the house since Sodapop and Ponyboy are slobs, and laid her down on my bed.

"Someone get me a wet wash cloth." All three of them went to get me one. I could here them talking in the bathroom, giving Soda all the details. I rolled my eyes and worked on waking her up.

**Angel's POV**

One second I was standing in the middle of Birch Road, the next I was lying on a bed in a dimly lit room, a guy who looked vaguely familiar dabbing my forehead with a damp cloth.

"Feel any better?" He asked me. I liked his voice. It was nice, all calm and soothing. I sat up in the bed.

"Huh? Where am I? Who are you? What—Ohhhh..." Everything came back in a huge rush that made me lay down again. My head hurt.

"Are you alright?" The guy who had been dabbing my face was looking at me worriedly.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just dandy. Who did you say you were?"

"Darrell, Darry for short." The guy who'd walloped Jim, right.

"How'd I get here? Where is here?" I propped myself up on my elbow and looked at him. I noticed that we weren't alone. There were three guys scattered around the room. "Who are they?"

He had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "I carried you here, this where I live." He pointed at the guys behind him, "That's Sodapop, over there's Ponyboy, and the one checkin' you out is Steve."

"Sodapop and Ponyboy, love the names." I examined the boys behind him carefully. The one called Sodapop was extraordinarily handsome, like a movie star or something. He bore a strong resemblance to the one named Ponyboy, who bore a stronger resemblance to the guy kneeling on the floor next to me. The once named Steve I didn't pay much attention to.

"So why do you have a normal name?" I asked Darrel.

"My mom got to name me. Dad named those two."

"Likes being different, does he?"

"He liked to, yeah. He did." I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, ignoring his use of past tense and the pain in my head. I clutched my shirt closed with one hand and steadied myself with the other. I was barefoot and my skirt was ripped way up the side. I bet my hair was terribly mussed up too. Great. Someone tapped my shoulder and when I looked over Darry was handing me the shirt off his back leaving him wearing jeans and a muscle shirt. I grabbed the shirt and hastily put it on, buttoning it up all the way to my chin. As I did so I talked.

"Thanks. Where exactly am I? I need to get home. You should stop looking at me buddy or I won't be a nice person to be around." That got some comments from Soda and Ponyboy turned red, even though it was Steve who was looking.

After the shirt was buttoned up I walked out of the room like I owned the house or something. The boys all followed me, gapping a little bit. Except for Darry, he was just watching me, not in a perverted way, almost protectively. I felt my neck heat up. Not once in my whole life has anyone tried to protect me from anything. Ever. I wasn't used to it. But this guy, he had saved me. I remember now. Jim had been trying to bash my head in with those steel toed boots of his and Darry had stepped in and smashed his face. Lord, he was gonna be mad at me later. I managed to find the door and get outside, the night air felt cool on my face.

"Holy---" They lived right on the corner of Mystic and 10th street. "You carried me all the way down here from Birch?" I looked back at Darry incredulously. "Nine blocks?"

He shrugged it off, "It's not like you weigh anything over 80 pounds." I happen to weigh a lot more than that, but I didn't say anything. Instead I started walking home.

**Darry's POV**

And off she went, just like that.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Soda hollered. She paused and glanced over her shoulder.

"You can't walk home alone." She raised her eyebrows as if to say "Oh, can't I?" But that didn't throw ol' Soda for a second.

"Darry'll drive you."

"Oh will he?" She turned all the way around and looked at me. I shrugged and gestured to my truck. She smiled a shy, quiet smile and hopped in the passenger's seat. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Steve nudge Soda and Soda shove him back. But then she spoke and I forgot about them.

"Thank you for what you did today." I opened my mouth to say that it was okay, but she held up her hand and went on. "You didn't have to, but you did anyway. You risked a lot, pounding a guy you didn't know, and I---" This time I held up my hand.

"It's plenty okay. Wasn't that much of a risk, not unless he got real mad at me and he's got a lot of friends." She bit her lip.

"That's the thing. He might get real mad. Either at me or at you, I don't know which. I hope it's me."

"He wouldn't hurt you, would he?" She shrugged.

"Turn right here. It depends on how drunk he is. Sometimes, he can be real sweet, and then there's time like today...I just don't know anymore."

"How do you know him?"

"He's an old boyfriend of mine. We stayed kind of friends after we broke up. But then he started drinking, and now he wants me back and when I wouldn't go back I decided he was gonna get me anyway. That's why this all happened. But it'll all work out." She kinda half smiled at me and I swear my heart jumped a little. She was really beautiful when she smiled.

"Why were you over there?"

"My mom ran out on us a couple of months ago, and my dad's been working a lot, says it makes him forget, and I was stir crazy, so against my better judgment I went over to see him." She shrugged again. "Sometimes I just don't think, ya know?"

I don't know what possessed me to say what I said next, but I said it anyway.

"If you ever need somewhere to go, my door's always unlocked. Even in the dead of night. You can come there and stay for as long as you need to."

"And your parents don't mind you offering invitations to crash at their home whenever a silly girl takes a whim?"

"My parents died in an automobile accident a few years ago." I then proceeded to tell her my theory about if one of the guys ever needed to blow off some steam in the dead of night that I would rather have them at my place then robbing a gas station, and that I had no worries, because my brothers and I were all hoods and we could beat off any unlikely burglars if the need to do so was ever aroused. I then had to tell her that we really didn't have anything to steal anyway, so the door stayed unlocked.

"How kind." Was all she said after my speech died down. "You know, we're a long ways away from my house." I looked around, while we had been talking, I had been driving aimlessly. We were now driving downtown. I raised my eyebrows.

"You wanna stop at Dingo's for a Coke? My treat." She looked amused, glancing down at herself and then at me. I realized that she was still barefoot and wearing my shirt. She raised her eyebrows.

"Sure." So we went to Dingo's. And we ordered Cokes and talked, and talked, and talked some more. Long after the Cokes were gone, we were still talking. Only when a fight broke out did we leave and go to the truck. I glanced at my watch once we had started on our way.

"Holy cow! I gotta get you home! I've gotta get home! I'm gonna catch it for staying out this long. Boy are my brothers gonna have a cow. Dang." She grabbed my hand and looked at my watch.

"It's only one thirty." I barely heard her.

"If Ponyboy is still up when I get back, boy is he gonna---"

"Calm down. So you forgot. I'm delighted that you found me so interesting." She smiled at me, and I calmed down. I also blushed. Boy was I glad it was dark. The rest of the ride was spent in a companionable silence which was only broken when she told my which way to turn.

"Right there, the one with the white trim." I pulled up to it and looked over at her.

"Thank you Darrell. For everything. I'll see you." She took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "Good night." I watched her disappear into her house, smiling at me over her shoulder before she went inside.


	2. Back Again

**Author's Note: **Okay, so it's not a one shot any more, too many good ideas just waiting to get out. You don't mind too terribly much, do you?

**Disclaimer:** snorts They're all Susannah Hinton's, why would I bother stealing _anything_ from her works? All I've got is a vivid imagination.

**PROLOGUE (kind of, can you have a prologue in the second chapter?)**

Weeks passed; slowly a month went by, then a month and a half, two months. She had appeared in his life, a glorious spot of brightness, and then disappeared from his very world. She just vanished off the face of the Earth. She was completely gone. POOF! Darry didn't even see her around town. He hadn't thought to get her number. He thought to go to her house, but somehow showing up on her doorstep and saying "Hi. I saved you and now I can't stop thinking about you. By the way, where the heck have you been!" just didn't seem like a good idea. Slowly he stopped thinking about her smile before he went to sleep and stopped hearing her laugh in his dreams. And then...

**Darry's POV**

I woke up to classical music, piano music, the kind Mom used to play. But Mom wasn't here. The boys sure as heck never listen to classical music. It was always rock and roll. Rock and roll booming from the radio like they _wanted_ to go deaf. They played it so loud that the windows sometimes shook, not very often mind you, and never in the morning. No one was ever up in the morning before me. Ever. Soda and Ponyboy might as well be zombies in the morning. But this music was on before I was up and I could only hear strains of it coming from the living room. I couldn't figure it out. The door had banged in the middle of the night, but the guys would never, ever be caught dead near a piano, much less listening to classical piano music. I left my room rather confused.

My confusion turned to shock real quickly. There, standing in front of the only decorative mirror in the house, was Angel. I have never felt my heart turn over like it did when I laid eyes on her again. She didn't hear or see me, and I saw her touch her cheek lightly and a single tear fell from her eyes, leaving a track on her skin. I wanted to reach out to her, to see her smile, but I couldn't move. I just stood there, gapping. My heart went racing a hundred miles a second at the sight of her. That's how she saw me when she turned around. I heard her sharp intake of breath and then she half smiled a bitter-sweet smile.

"Hi," Her low voice was whispery, but the word broke the trance I was in and made my blood pump faster. I stepped toward her.

"Hey," I then saw why she had been in front of the mirror. There was a thin cut from her cheekbone to her eyebrow, surrounded by a large green and black bruise. I stopped dead in my tracks and it was my turn to gasp.

"What _happened_?"

She absently put her hand to the bruise and her eyes filled with tears. She lowered her face, her hair falling around it like a curtain. I was shaking now, madder than heck, afraid to go near her, yet wanting to hold her and make it all go away.

"**What happened**!" She shook and looked up at me incredulously.

"He hit me." There was disbelief in her voice that I didn't pay much attention to. A hard knot formed in my stomach.

"HIT YOU! Who hit you?" She shook her head, meeting my eyes with ones so hurt and sad that it made my heart ache.

"My daddy hit me." It was like she couldn't believe it. Her voice was oddly detached.

"He came home and I wasn't there and when I came back he yelled at me, and I yelled back and he hit me." She shook her head again. "He _hit _me! I don't believe it."

_Flashback_

"_Don't yell at my brother!" I turned around and slapped him, hard too. I looked at him, clutching his cheek, his eyes wide with shock. I looked at my offending hand. What had I done? _

"_Ponyboy, I didn't mean it." _

_He was gone. Soda looked at me dubiously. I ran to the door to go after him, but Soda grabbed my arm._

"_Don't, he'll be back once he's cooled off a little." _

"_But Soda—-"_

"_No buts."_

"_Soda, I hit him."_


	3. Chocolate Syrup

**Author's Note: **I'm glad that you guys like me going on with it, keep reviewing. I don't know why I didn't reply to reviews earlier, but here they are:

**rhaine: **I had to read _The Outsiders _in Lit. as a last week of school, nothing better to do thing. That's what started all this. Amazing book, isn't it? I absolutely love it. Read it three times in one week. Haven't bought it yet...Have you seen the movie? I can't find it at any movie stores and at the library and Blockbuster's it's ALWAYS out! Ugh!

**Amber:** Darry's my favorite too. I guess it's an oldest thing. I dunno, doesn't really matter too much, huh? I feel so bad for him, what with all his jobs and trying to keep his family together and having to give up his dreams. I could never be that brave.

**Sodapop Curtis DX:** I've read some of your stories! They're so good! I'm gobsmacked that you like mine! Thanks for the compliment about writing like S.E. Hinton, that's the highest praise you could ever give me! I'm not losing it, am I? I feel like I'm losing her flavor...The book is never in the library when I go, so I can't compare her style to mine...I hope I'm not losing it...

**Disclaimer: Why, why, why bother! It'd be impossible anyway...**

**Darry's POV**

I shook off the memory impatiently and closed the distance between us quickly. I cupped her face in my hand and gently examined the cut. Angel flinched when my fingers brushed the bruise.

"Did you clean it?"

"No."

"When did you get here?" She frowned and shook her head absently.

"I—Um...Three, four maybe? I don't know. I was so mad; all I wanted to do was get away. I walked around downtown for a while. I—I just...I couldn't stay there. Not with him. He hit me Darry! He took his fist a socked me. I think he was aiming for my mouth, but..." Angel laughed a little mirthless laugh. "He always did aim high...What am I going to do? Darry," She started crying, her tears running down her face and over my fingers, which were still cupping one side of her face. "What am I going to do?"

"Hey now, it's not that bad. You're gonna be okay." I wiped away the tears and turned around. "C'mon, let's get that cleaned up."

She followed me to the bathroom wordlessly and sat down on the toilet while I rummaged around in the medicine cabinet. I keep a lot of different stuff in that cabinet and the more I put in there the more chances to use it come up. I've got everything in there ace bandages, cough syrup, aspirin, sleep aides, the whole shellac. It comes in handy, especially after a rumble. After a few minutes I came up with some peroxide, rubbing alcohol, Band-Aids, and a couple of cue-tips.

"Hold still." I took her chin in my hand to steady her head so I would be able to clean the cut with the least amount of pressure. "Close your eyes, kay? I don't want this stuff to change your eye color." She obligingly shut her eyes. The cut wasn't too nasty, I've seen much worse, but I knew that it hurt nonetheless. Angel hissed and opened her eyes when the alcohol touched it.

"That hurts."

"Rubbing alcohol wasn't made to feel good. I'm almost done, shut up and hold still."

"Sorry."

"Stop moving your mouth and close your eyes, alright? I don't want this to get in them."

I stopped with the rubbing alcohol and started with the peroxide. I wasn't sure if I was doing things in the right order. I had taken a CPR class back in the tenth grade and I remember them covering how to clean cuts, but that had been at least four years ago. I turned my attention back to her cut, trying to ignore how her eyelashes fell so softly against her cheeks. I dabbed away the remaining liquid, let got of her face, and tore open a Band-Aid.

"I don't need one of those."

"You need an aspirin?"

"No."

"What about breakfast?"

"I guess I could stand to eat something. Last time I ate was yesterday morning."

"Where were you that you missed lunch and dinner yesterday and made you so late coming home?"

"I was at the orphanage. You know the one over on Eighth Street?" I knew of the one she was talking about, it wasn't the one Ponyboy or Soda would get sent to, it was shabbier place, kinda small, for little kids. It was across the street from a Catholic church and run by some nuns.

"What were you doing there?" She looked sad.

"The nuns that run it are getting older. They can't get down and play with the kids as much. I volunteer there. Yesterday they really needed some extra help, there's a bunch of holes in the roof. It's supposed to rain real bad this week, ya know? I got up on the roof and tried to cover some of them up. The building's really run down."

"Patching the roof made you stay out so late that your father got worried?"

"Nah, there's a little girl there who's parents just died. Poor thing, she's only three or so. Well, anyway, she's had some trouble falling asleep. The baby has nightmares, and the only thing you can do is hold her until she quiets down and falls asleep." Angel shook her head and a tear trickled down her cheek. "I was putting her to sleep and I guess I fell asleep myself. The nuns hadn't realized I was still there; otherwise they would've woke me. I didn't get home until almost 1:30. That's what got my dad so angry. He doesn't like the fact that I help out there." She shrugged and rolled her eyes, "Where do you keep the cups?"

"Over there," Angel stood up and went in the direction I pointed, "The second cupboard to the left."

That girl was something else! No one I knew would ever think to help out an orphanage. No one liked the nuns. They were a bit eccentric and all of them were really old. I had met a few of them when my parents died, but that had only been for a few minutes. Buddy ,that had been enough for me. And the way she talked about the little girl, her eyes had spoken volumes. It was as if she felt the child's pain.

"Thanks," She took a cup and went to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup, "You want some?"

"No thanks," I hate coffee. It's terrible stuff, bitter and strong. They only time I'll ever drink it is if I need to stay awake.

"Do you have chocolate syrup?"

"For what?"

"For coffee, what else?" She went to the refrigerator and opened the door, "Aha, I knew you would."

"If only Ponyboy were awake..."

"Say what?"

"Nothing," I sat down at the table with a plate of chocolate cake in front of me and motioned for her to sit across from me, "Chocolate cake?"

"Sure." When I got up to get her the pan of chocolate cake that was sitting on the stove I saw what time it was.

"HOLY MARY MOTHER OF GOD! I've got to get to work!" The boss was gonna kill me if I was late. Let a girl into your life for ten minutes and everything falls apart. Lord Almighty, would I have to speed to get there on time. Dang it! She was sitting at the table, her legs folded up beneath her, looking pained.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you late." She was wearing one of my shirts. It looked a heck of a lot better on her than it did on me.

"Huh? Don't worry. Um, just stay here and eat...When Soda wakes up have him borrow Two-Bit's car and drive you home, okay? I'm sorry I can't drive you there myself, but--"

Angel had stood up while I was talking and walked over to me. Now she had her fingers over my lips. I stopped breathing.

"Shut up, will you? You're yammering isn't going to get you anywhere."

I made it on time. As I worked, images of her kept popping up in my mind. How vulnerable she'd been with tears running down her cheeks, the way she sipped her coffee, how she'd had my shirt wrapped around her, hugging her curves. I remembered the shirt now; it was an older work shirt, worn and comfortable. I kept feeling her fingers pressing my lips, they had been awfully cold. She had a beautiful smile.

I still didn't know her last name.


	4. A Nice Long Walk

**Author's Note**: THE BOOK WAS IN THE LIBRARY! Glory hall-eh-ja-loo-yah! I finally got to adjust my writing to match Hinton's a little more. Kinda hard because all her stuff's from a guys POV, but oh well. Now that I read over it this story really seems like a Mary Sue, which annoys me to no end, but I'm trying to think of it more as "pure fluff."

**Tehsylvania: Thanks, I love being different, it's fun. **

**nextbigthing92: I WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE! Ack! The dumb library NEVER HAS IT! And now my parents refuse to rent movies because we always have a teeny tiny fine for turning them in late. Gah. **

**Sodapop's#1gurl: I was getting around to it. And here you are, a whole Angel devoted chapter, even if it sounds Mary-Sueish. **

_Disclaimer: S. E. Hinton never wrote anything resembling a Mary Sue in her life. Nuff said. _

Chapter 4

I had gulped down my coffee and left Darrel's house almost two minutes after he left with one shoe on and the other under his arm. It was a long walk home, but I needed to clear my head, maybe an icy shower would do the trick. What had I been thinking walking into his house in the wee hours of the morning? I swear to you, I'm demented. Lord, but he was gorgeous. What had I been thinking! Cold water, I needed cold water. There was a park around here somewhere and I was pretty sure it had a fountain in it. A fountain and a little wading pool, sometimes the nuns would take the kids over there when it was too hot to stay in the un-air conditioned orphanage. I'd go there. Maybe I'd wade a little bit. That sounded nice. Once my blood stopped rushing around like mad I'd be able to think straight. He'd brushed my tears off of my face, just like in the movies or in the many romance novels my mother had left behind in stacks all over the house. His hands were rough, but they had been gentle too. I put my hand to my cheek briefly and grimaced. I had forgotten about the bruise. That was reality enough for me. I started walking again, anger at my father flaming up inside of me.

I can't help but get mad at my father. He's kind of become a catch-all for all my anger lately. He's just so unfeeling. I can't stand the man anymore. All he ever does is work and drink, drink and work and in his spare time, yells. It makes me so mad the way he shut down after Mom left. He didn't even notice that the rest of us were taking it just as hard as he was. All he did was yell at Tommy, my fifteen year old brother, when he came back after vanishing into thin air for two weeks. He didn't even bother to go out looking for him, just sat a home and drank and yelled.

I missed my father. He used to take me out for breakfast every Saturday morning. When I was little he'd take me and Tommy out to the park and teach both of us to play football. At night he'd turn the radio onto to stations that played waltzes and the like and teach me to dance in the kitchen while my mother looked on or read her romance novels. She never would dance with him. She didn't like it that we lived where we did or that he was so interested in us kids. But he loved her just the same, perhaps even more. He's laugh at her when she pouted at him for spending too much time at work and not enough taking her to romantic villas on the seaside. That part was ridiculous, because we barely had enough money to take the whole family out to dinner once every few weeks, which made her mad and made him love her all the more. I never could figure out why my father was so blind, but he was and when she got up one morning and packed her bags and left us all gaping it crushed him. Now all I had was a shadow of the man that had been my father and dream of life going back to what it used to be.

I had reached the park now, the sun was shining brightly through the leaves on the trees and little kids were splashing around in the wading pool while mothers in lawn chairs looked on. My mom had never brought us to the park. Mostly she smoked cigarette after cigarette and read novels with pictures half naked girls in the arms of beautiful men on the front. She didn't like to be bothered with us kids. I had gone through the first eight years of my life thinking that that's what all mothers did before I went over to a friends house. I remember seeing her mom cooking at the stove, something my father almost always did. And then she gave us cookies and milk and sent us to eat them on the back porch, which I didn't understand. My mother never cared where we ate or if we made a mess, just so long as we cleaned it up. And then when I was nine I spent the night at a friends house and her mother made us a fort underneath the dining room table and gave my friend a kiss on the forehead before we went to sleep. I had never seen that before and asked about it. I still remember the stricken look on the woman's face. She looked at me and said "Haven't you ever had a good night kiss before, Angela?" When I shook my head she got this look on her face and gave me and my friend both a good night kiss. I'm not sure, but I think I saw a tear trickle down her cheek before she turned out the light.

A splash from the pool soaked me and woke me up from my reverie. I had been standing right at the edge of the pool, staring at the little kids, but not seeing them. I gave myself a shake and actually looked at them before I turned around and left. I had forgotten why I was there in the first place. I walked downtown and popped into a dinner for a Pepsi. It was early for that much caffeine and sugar, but I needed to blow time. I had to decide whether or not to go home, and with a home like mine that can take awhile.

"Can I help you?" The guy behind the counter asked. Blast it, I didn't have any money.

"Uh...No. Forgot my purse." I flashed him a smile and went back outside.

_What to do? What to do? _I wondered down the street, not paying attention to where I was going. Daddy would be at work, and I doubted that he'd remembered I'd left when he woke up with a hangover and found out he was late. I passed a few friends sitting on a bench and talked to them for a minute. Tommy wouldn't care if I was there or not. We both were in and out so much and for so long at a time that he wouldn't think a thing of it if I was gone. Not that he'd be home anyway. I saw the new building going up at the end of Main St. They were working on the roof and the men looks like ants scurrying around. I wondered where Tommy was. Normally we told each other where we were going. I made him promise to do so after he came back from his two week excursion. I really didn't care who he was with, just so long as I knew where to find him. I ducked under a ladder leaning against the new building, ignoring the tiny memory of someone once telling me that walking under a ladder was bad luck. Maybe I'd go to the orphanage again. I liked it there. Yeah, I'd go to the orphanage again and check on little Sophie, see if she slept all night or not. I spun around and walked straight into the ladder.

"OUCH! Holy shiznick!"

"ANGEL! Are you okay?" A voice from above asked me. Darrys voice from above if you wanted to get specific.

"Hey Darrel, fancy seeing you here."


	5. We Used to Dance

**Author's Note: Yeah, so this chapter really has no point, at least that I can see. I'll get back to Angel in the next chapter, kay? **

**Nextbigthing92: **SERISOUSLY! That's so awesome! I can't wait! Guess what stupid Blockbuster did! Their tape of The Outsiders is BROKEN and the movie is NO LONGER IN PRINT! I almost DIED right there on the cold hard tile in front of the checkout counter. Ack.

**Sodapops#1gurl: **I'll do exactly that next chapter, kapeesh? I think I'm gonna make Angel around 18, you think two years is too big of a difference? Unless you're not against the whole Tom and Katie thing...

**Disclaimer: **Look at the chapter below, S.E. Hinton would be EMBARRASSED if she wrote that.

**Chapter 5 (Darrys POV) **

"Are you okay?" I asked her again, looking down at her from my perch on top of the ladder.

"Yeah, I was more surprised than anything." She tipped her head back to look at me, her hair falling down her back in a cascade of dark waves. I wanted to stroke that hair again. I wanted to—

"Curtis! Get movin'!" The foreman's voice broke through my thoughts and wants. I finished climbing down the ladder, bombing her with questions for every rung my foot touched.

"What are you doing here? Didn't Soda drive you home? Did your father—" She held up one hand and I stopped the interrogation. I do that, especially with Ponyboy, except sometimes I yell. I don't mean to, honest. The kid gets me so worried sometimes, I just...I dunno. I've been trying not to though, hard as it is to trust him sometimes.

"Sodapop wasn't even up when I left. Neither of them were. I walked."

"All this way!" It was a good two miles from my house to here. "You could have woken Soda up."

"Nah...I needed to think about some things...Where to go and what to do, ya know?"

She looked sad for a minute, lifting her fingers lifted up to brush the bruise on her face. Then she smiled, "I was about to head to the orphanage again."

"Again?"

"I was just going to drop in and see how Sophie, the little girl with the bad dreams, slept last night. That's all."

"And then what?"

"And then...I don't know."

"Can I come with you?" I swear, I don't know where that came from. I only had about a half hour for my lunch break and if I remembered correctly, it took at least ten minutes to get to the orphanage. And I would have to eat somewhere along the line. You can't exactly roof houses on an empty stomach.

"You can just leave anytime you want to?"

"It's my lunch break."

"Okay, let's go." She turned and started walking across the street, taking long strides. I actually had to hurry to catch up. Normally that's reversed.

"How long is your lunch break?"

"I've got about twenty five minutes left." She nodded and turned down an alley.

"So, are you going home after your visit?"

"I don't know. I might leave town for a couple of days."

"And he won't worry about you?" I knew from personal experience that it would. People vanishing into thin air overnight is quite troublesome.

"If I had left for a few days about six months ago he would've. I don't think he will now."

"What do you mean?"

"He doesn't worry anymore. He stopped caring when Mom left."

"But when she was around he did?"

"Oh yeah, he cared when Mom was around. She never cared. I guess he had to make up for her. He loved her so much; he thought she wouldn't look bad if he did more."

I didn't see the logic in this. But before I could ask I looked at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her jaw was tight. I could only guess at how mad she was at her mom. Steve often looked like that right after he and his dad had done a few rounds of verbal abuse. Distraction often got Steve cooled down, so I gave it a shot.

"What was it like when he cared?"

"It was fun. He would take us out to the park and play football with us. And at night he'd turn on the radio and teach me how to do all sorts of dances. The foxtrot, waltzes, swing, you name it. And then on Saturday mornings we'd go out for breakfast, just the two of us. Tommy never woke up early enough. He made me read all kinds of books, and then on those mornings we'd talk about them. When I got older we'd debate on some of them. He'd always show me something I hadn't noticed before or make me see beyond what was written on the page. And now...Now it's like he's dead."

She went silent, the animated look fading from her face. Mom and Dad used to go dancing on weekends. When I was in the seventh grade I had begged Mom to show me how to dance right before my first ever middle school dance. She's misunderstood and every Sunday she'd show me how to do the dances Angel had mentioned and more. We'd stopped lesson when summer began, but every now and then a song would come on the radio when no one else was home and she would make me dance with her for that one song. I told Angel this.

"What was your favorite type of dancing?" She asked me.

"I liked swing dancing, the music is livelier. What about you?" We were at the front porch of the orphanage surprisingly faster than I had figured. The orphanage was an old, Victorian style, brick house, and would have been pretty nice if it wasn't so run down. The porch sagged a little bit and the paint on the trim was peeling. The yard around it was kept pretty nicely though, with flowers and small neatly trimmed lawn.

"I love waltzing. The music, the position, the dreamy look you get in your eyes that you can see mirrored on the other persons. I love it." She opened the door and walked inside. A nun was scurrying down the hall, but she stopped when she saw us.

"Oh Angela, dear, we're just sitting down to lunch. Will you and your friend join us?"

Angel smiled at her and politely declined, explaining that we had just stopped in for a moment.

"But your young man here looks positively famished, could I at least bring him to the kitchen while you have your little chat with the Mother?" I felt heat creeping up my neck. I glanced at Angela and found that she was blushing furiously too.

"Well?" the nun asked impatiently. Angel looked at me and I shrugged.

"I don't suppose I'd be able to stop you, would I Sister Martha?" The Sister shook her head. "I shouldn't be too long. I'll come back and get you, alright?"

"Sure." And I was whisked away by Sister Martha to the kitchen, which was large, but falling apart. The sink was dripping, a few of the cabinets were still on their hinges and one of the many windows looked like it had been hit with a small rock. Yet the room was immaculately clean and bright. The Sister motioned to a platter of sandwiches on the counter and told me to help myself. She poured me a glass of lemonade and left the pitcher out with an empty glass which she said was for Angel. After she gave me firm instructions to make Angel eat at least half a sandwich she disappeared and I was left alone in that huge kitchen. About two and a half sandwiches later Angel came to the kitchen with her brow furrowed and her eyes dark. She didn't say anything, just walked out.


	6. Laughing In the Rain

**Author's Note: Evidently no liked that last chapter anymore than I did. Sorry folks, it shan't happen again. Review, tell me what you want. Just review. Flame me for the love of Mike, just click the review button. It makes my mouth smile. Hey Sodapopsgurl, this is for you.  **

_Disclaimer: Nah, I don't think S.E. Hinton even believe in pure unadulterated fluff._

Chapter 6

**Angel's POV**

I didn't even bother looking back to see if Darry would follow me, I was so distracted with my mulling. The poor little girl, that poor, poor little baby, my heart ached for her. I barely noticed when Darry hurried up beside me until he caught my hand in his, forcing me to stop. Tendrils of lightening flashed from his hand into my finger, up my arm, and down to my heart where they seemed to resonate in my chest.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"You forgot your lunch."

"What?" He turned my hand over in his and stuck a sandwich in it. "I don't want to eat anything."

"Hey, wasn't my idea. Sister Martha told me to make sure you ate a sandwich." He shrugged nonchalantly. "You can't exactly say no to a lady used to dealing with little kids." He made me smile and I took a bite of my sandwich before I started walking again.

"You're gonna be late." He shook his head.

"No worries. I work too long anyway."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, how's the little girl?"

When I told him that a hour or so after I'd left the dear had woken up screaming and crying so hard that she'd thrown up and that she hadn't slept the rest of the night, Darry got a strange look on his face. When I told him that she wouldn't tell us what had scared her so badly and that we had almost decided that the little girl herself didn't know what she was dreaming about. Then he told me that his youngest brother, Ponyboy, had had bad dreams right after their parents died in a car wreck. He told me that Ponyboy had woken up screaming but he couldn't remember what had frightened him so. He said that Soda had slept with him, which had helped, but not much. Finally Darry had taken Ponyboy to a doctor who'd told him to make Ponyboy play harder so he would be worn out by the end of the day. He told me it had worked. I stopped in the middle of crossing the street and looked and looked at him.

"He stopped having nightmares completely?"

"Yes, well, except for this one time, but he hasn't had one since then."

"He stopped though? He started sleeping regularly?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you might have something there." I grinned at him. "We'll try it."

By then we had reached his work site. He told me to eat the rest of my sandwich, which had about three bites out of it and headed toward a pile of roofing tiles.

"What are you doing?" The dumb guy was trying to carry two loads of roofing tiles.

"Working, what about you?"

"Go one at a time Muscles, you'll feel better at the end of the day." He looked at me and I gave him a look. He sighed and dropped a load. I grinned and turned around.

"Where are you going?" He was halfway up the ladder, looking down at me.

"Home." He nodded and smiled.

"Good." I turned again and he added almost as an afterthought, "If you ever need anything..." I smiled at him over my shoulder.

"I know." He returned my smile and went up the ladder. "Thank you." I whispered, before hurrying off, my heart pounding.

I needed to get myself away from him fast. I knew better than to let myself get caught up in a guy. Look what Jim had done to me. I was not going to reduce myself to a shivering, weeping mass of flesh that was scared of her own shadow. So all guys weren't like that, but was I going to take another chance? No. Was I perhaps being a little too close minded? Yes, I was. Did I care to see if there were really nice guys out there? No, not really.

I still felt the lightening bolts in the center of my chest and down in my stomach. I remembered the day he'd saved me, the way he'd held me against him and spoke soft words into my hair. I remembered his heart beating in my ear, the comforting warmth of his arms around me. I loved the sound of his soft laughter and the way he smiled. I wanted to feel his arms around me again. I wanted his fingers to brush against my cheek again. I wanted him to grab my hand and pull me to him. I wanted him to—Stop it! Stop! Stop! STOP! I screamed in my head. Boys are bad news. Bad, bad, BAD. They're nothing but trouble. They seem nice at first and then BOOM! Once you feel safe they turn into horrible, awful people. I've watched it. I know. All they do is hurt you. But he'd been so warm, so gentle, and so sweet. When I was encased in his arms nothing could've hurt me. And he'd been so gentle when he was cleaning my cut, had that really only been this morning? He'd wiped away my tears with the pad of his thumb. Just like in the movies.

**Darry's POV**

I watched her walk away until the foreman hollered at me. She wandered in and out of my thoughts. I wondered briefly if she'd finished her sandwich. I wanted to remind her to clean that cut up. When I remember the cut, I remember how soft her skin had been. I saw her eyes, looking at me with trust. Something fluttered in my stomach, and I wondered if I had truly lost it. I hadn't dated anyone in at least two years. No, more than that. And she was younger than me besides. Not much more than a kid. She didn't act like it though.

I wasn't going to let myself be distracted by a girl. Not until Ponyboy had graduated anyway. There was too much to risk. The Social Services could come in at any minute and take Ponyboy and Sodapop away and put them in homes. Maybe not Sodapop, he'd run away before they'd put him in a home. But Ponyboy, he wouldn't. I couldn't stand it if they took them away. I'd die. They were what my life revolved around. Losing them would be like losing air or water. No girl was worth that.

Besides, she wasn't my class. She was going home. I'd seen her home, and it'd been better than any house in our neighborhood. She wasn't a Soc, but she wasn't a Greaser either. She would be at her house, waiting for her father to sleep off a drunken fit and then her life would go back to normal. She'd forget all about me. I'd go on with my life and eventually I'd forget all about her. She'd popped in and out of my life a few times, so what? I didn't even know her last name.

**Angel's POV**

The sky had grown black, full of angry looking thunderheads. I grinned at the sky. I love the rain. It started raining when I was about three blocks away from my house. The drops were cold against my face. I threw the hot, soggy remain of my sandwich in my hand to the street, hoping that the lightening bolts in my chest would go away with it. They didn't, of course. I tipped my head back and let the water hit me full on. Then I resumed walking with a smile on my face.

When I was a block from my house the drops grew big and fat and in minutes I was soaked. I threw my arms out and up towards the sky, spreading my fingers apart. The rain beat against me. The wind howled and the drops fell harder. I twirled on the sidewalk and moved on, my hands still raised over my head. I was laughing by the time I had reached the last street I had to cross before I got to my house on the corner. I spun in the middle of the street, twirling, laughing to the sky. Rain has always made me happy. I twisted like a dervish, laughing like a lunatic. Who needed boys anyway? Not me! I was fine without them! I didn't need Jim! I didn't need my father! I didn't need Timmy! I sure as heck didn't Darrel Curtis! Nope, I was doing pretty dang good by myself, thank you very much! I giggled to the sky. Spinning, laughing, twirling, giggling, and then BOOM! CRACK! I was interrupted by ear splitting thunder which was followed by lightening the lit up the relatively dark sky.

I ran to my house, instantly cowed. I let myself in the always unlocked by door, still giggling. My side hurt and I was dizzy from spinning so much. I collapsed onto the cool kitchen floor in another fit of giggles. Finally I stilled and just lay there, my arms and legs spread out, breathing heavily.


	7. Life Goes On

**Author's Note: Yes, yes, yes, I know, yet another filler. GOOD STUFF IS COMING! I swear! Just wait. The next chapter will be better and longer, hang with me for a little bit. **

**CrazyAlchemistgrl017** groans I did.

**Sodapop's#1gurl: **I do what you ask me too and you don't even acknowledge it? Was is THAT bad?

_Disclaimer: As if._

Chapter 7 ** Darry's POV**

"What the heck are you doing home?" Where the first words I heard when I stepped in the door.

"It's good to see you too." Ponyboy rolled his eyes.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah?"

"Why are you home early?" I threw my keys on the coffee table and ruffled his hair.

"You can't roof houses in the rain kiddo." He shrugged and went back to his book.

"You have any homework?"

"On a Sunday in June?" He looked up and raised his eyebrows. Cripes, where had that come from? I decided not to say anything and went to the kitchen to start dinner. I heard Ponyboy mumble something about him not being the only one who didn't use his head, but I let it go. I didn't feel like wrestling. I had tried Angel's advice for about ten minutes and then I'd decided to go back to two loads. It wasn't the smartest thing, but it got more of the job done quicker. Besides, the dull ache of the pulled muscles in my back took my thoughts away from other, more distracting, thoughts.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"Food."

"What kind of food."

"Chocolate."

Blasted kid, he'd eat cardboard if it was covered with chocolate and not know the difference. I decided on waffles. No one cared if we had breakfast for dinner. Mom did it all the time when she didn't really want to cook. Soda loved it because he always soaked his waffles in syrup. When he got that much sugar afternoon he did back flips. He claimed that it sweetened his dreams. All that tons of sugar gave me was a headache, but it didn't ever bother him. I wondered if it bothered Angel. Of course, she had chocolate syrup in her coffee, maybe she was as bad a Soda. I wondered if I'd ever find out.

**Angel's POV**

When Tom came home and found me on the kitchen floor all he did was roll his eyes and stepped over me to the refrigerator. Nothing phases that kid. Well, not anymore. If he had found me lying on the floor, sopping wet, with a puddle of rainwater around me he'd have made me take a hot shower, eat a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and told me to go to bed early to prevent me from getting a cold. He used to like to take care of me, even if he was three years younger. Now he was just...there, almost like he lived in a world that existed only to him. He was starting to hang out with hippie type people, all who were older than he was and wore funny clothes. At least I thought they were funny. The one time I mentioned that to him he told me that times were changing and that I needed to stop living in a nicely painted, but dark box in a hole in the ground. We hadn't really talked much since.

"Hello to you too." He looked at me from behind the milk carton he'd been drinking out of.

"Hi." He wiped off his mouth and put the carton back in the fridge. He then stepped over me again and rushed off to his room. I rolled my eyes and sat up, cleaned up the floor and went to my room which was in the attic of our small house.

I changed clothes and hung the wet ones over the bathtub. With a towel wrapped around my head and a blanket around my body I watched the rain from a chair I'd pulled up to my window. The steady pounding soothed me and I was soon lost in the drops falling from heaven. I didn't bother to think. I made my mind blank. I removed all disturbing thoughts from my head. And that's when it came to me.

I would move out. I didn't want to stay here. I had never liked my attic room, which was unbearably hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. I was eighteen; I could live on my own. My dad would be all too happy to get me away. Heck, he'd probably pay for a little tiny house all my own. He'd been working so much lately and we'd been fighting so much he'd be glad to get rid of me. And even if he didn't I had a bit saved up that I was gonna buy a car with, but maybe, just maybe I could make a down payment on a small house, or even an apartment with it. I knew of at least three places were I could get a job so I could pay rent. I didn't eat much, so buying groceries wouldn't be too terribly bad. I could do it. I'd ask my dad tonight and I was willing to bet by the end of the week I'd be out and on my own.

I presented my idea to my father the next day and he agreed wholeheartedly. And he paid for it. He told me to find a small place that I wanted and he'd use the money that he'd made working extra shifts to put a down payment on it. I started packing and job hunting on Monday. By the Thursday I'd found an apartment that I liked well enough and he made the down payment. I spent Friday scanning Salvation Army for the things I didn't have and buying what I couldn't find elsewhere. That weekend I started moving in. I did all the moving too. My dad just watched me hull boxes out to my little car. Monday night was the last night I spent in my house. I wish I hadn't.

I was upstairs, packing endless boxes, when my brother came home at 2 AM. He brought me up some coffee and toast, taking care of me like he had before Mom left. And he gave me a small bottle of pills. When I asked what they were he told me they were vitamins and that he was afraid I would make myself sick working so hard. He also told me to only take one at a time, which I couldn't figure out. Vitamins are good for you; you're supposed to be able to take lots at a time before they make you sick. But he told me again just to take one at a time and to try to sleep before the sun came up. Then he went to bed.

I took out one of the pills out of the bottle and looked at it. I decided my brother was being too overprotective and finished packing before I went to the couch and slept. My dad woke me up before he went to work at seven. I was dog tired, but so I washed pill down with half a cup of coffee and went lugged the rest of my cartons out to the car. For only having a few hours of sleep I had a lot of energy and I managed to carry twice what I normally could've up to my new home. By noon I had my bed put together in what should've been the living room, but I didn't have a couch, so it worked. I also had half the cartons unpacked and put away and I was still full of energy.

It was then that I remembered the orphanage, which I hadn't visited in over a week. I felt horrible, so I took another one of Tom's vitamins, figuring that it would keep my immune system up, because you never know what kind of bacteria is floating around that place, and took off on foot. The apartment I had chosen was really an old two story house that was divided into four sections, two apartments on top and two on the bottom. It was about two blocks from Main St. and about six or seven from the orphanage and it took me roughly ten minutes to get there.

When I got to the orphanage I was immediately accosted by screaming children who tried to drag me in six directions at once. Almost as soon as I was grabbed I was saved by three sisters who ushered the children away. I protested almost as loudly as the children and spent the rest of the afternoon wrestling and laughing and having a great time. I felt better than I had in ages. It felt so good to be with all of them again. Those kids were just what I needed. I stayed until dinner and then left after briefly chatting with the Mother about Sophie and Darrel's idea. She nodded briefly and said she'd try it that night. She told me that the nightmares had become less frequent over the last week and that Sophie had slept the whole night away twice and that she'd asked for me the nights that she had had the nightmares. A stab of guilt hit me. I should've taken the time to come visit. I should've been there. She must've noticed my anguished look.

"Don't worry dear. You're young and you have a life of your own. One can't expect you to be tied down to this old place forever. Now then, tell me about your apartment."

I finally left still feeling guilty and energetic. When I got back to the apartment I finished unpacking and ate a bowl of cereal for dinner along with another vitamin. Now that I was free I didn't want to get sick first thing. Then I roamed. I had more energy than ever. I went through all three rooms and marveled. I had a combined kitchen and living room, a smallish room that would've been my bedroom had I enough furniture, and a good sized bathroom. The apartment had come with a refrigerator, a stove and even a telephone which I was immensely grateful for. It was painted in nice cheery colors. The kitchen/living room was painted pale yellow with bright blue trim, which I found very nice. The bathroom was the opposite and what would've been the bedroom was painted a sherbet orange color with bright white trim. I had put my desk and a couple chairs in there along with some great lamps I'd found at the Salvation Army. I moved a couple things around on the desk and switched the chairs back a forth. Then I went to the kitchen and opened and closed all the cabinets, trying to figure where on earth I'd get enough stuff to fill them all. I couldn't stand it. I felt so jittery it was almost scary. I blamed it on being all alone in my own apartment without anyone else near by. I ran up and down the stairs a few times and finally felt tired enough to collapse onto my bed and doze fitfully.

I spent the next two days going to interviews. The best job I could get was at CRS Contracting and Roofing as a secretary and the worst was being a cashier at a Fox Drug and Grocery. Whatever I got would be better than my part time job as a waitress which wouldn't be enough to buy groceries, much less pay rent. I had a really good interview at CRS whose manager told me that he would call in the next two days and set up an appointment for a follow up interview. They called the very next day, much to my surprise and set up an interview for Friday.

On Friday I put on my smartest outfit, did my hair in a professional looking French twist and even put on a little make up, which I didn't like doing, but figured it would make a better impression. It turned out that I needn't have bothered. After the first couple minutes of introductory small talk I was told that I had gotten the job and was asked if Monday was too soon to start. I did my best to keep my excitement low key and told them I would be delighted to start on Monday. Then we shook hands and I was escorted out of the office. Once outside I let out a shriek of delight and immediately went to the orphanage to tell everyone the good news.


	8. Falling Stars

**_Author's Note: Sorry guys. I didn't mean for it to take so long for me to upload. I was  in Mexico for a week, if that helps. I didn't really have much inspiration, sorry. But thanks to my darling Raine, I HAVE THE OUTSIDERES ON DVD! _YES!_ So I was inspired and managed this. Review, it makes my heart happy._**

**Bex: **Thank you! Sorry it took me so long to update.

**Sodapop's#1gurl: **I was just teasing you darling. You didn't offend me at all. Sorry if I came across offended,

**Raine:******You're the best, have I told you that? I'm glad you like it. You so boosted my inspiration. I like the Dally in the movie more than I do the one in the book. Not that you really needed to know.

**Chapter 8**

When I got home I was exhausted. I didn't want to get sick, especially since I was about start a new job, so I took one of the vitamins that Tommy had given me. Then I remembered that I hadn't taken one yesterday, so I took another one. I got jittery again. That's when I noticed that somehow my blouse had gotten stained. I changed into jeans and a white tank top and made myself a frozen turkey dinner. But when it finished cooking I wasn't hungry anymore. I was restless. I decided to celebrate my new job by going out to get a Coke somewhere downtown. I shook my hair out of its falling French twist and walked to Main Street.

Since it was Friday night the street was crowded with people. Big groups were gathered on corners, boys in fancy Mustangs, Corvettes, and even a few older cars that I knew contained supped up engines drove up and down the street, and a couple of fights were going on. I walked past it all. A couple of guys honked or made catcalls at me from their cars which I, in my over energetic state, winked over my shoulder and waved at them. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did anyway, so what happened next was really all my fault for better or worse.

I was waiting for the light to turn so I could cross the street when a big red Corvette pulled up to the curb and three guys piled out. I glanced briefly at them, but then the light turned, so I started to cross the street. Unfortunately I didn't make it. A tall, husky guy with blonde hair and a crooked nose grabbed me around the waist and pulled me so close to him I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" He hissed into my ear, pressing his stubbly cheek against mine.

"Across the street," I hissed back, jerking away from his foul breath. He grabbed my hair, forcing my face towards his.

"Is that so? 'Cause I think your plans are about to change." I opened my mouth to scream and he kissed me violently. He thrust his tongue between my open lips and I bit down as hard as I could. He jerked back and let out a stream of curses.

"Grab her." The two guys who had stood silently leering grabbed my arms and forced me against a wall, lifting me off the sidewalk. The blonde spat blood onto the sidewalk.

"You're gonna pay for that." I prepared myself for the impact of his fist.

"What do you think you're doin' Holden?" The blonde spun around and his jaw went slack, spilling blood down his shirt. I felt the strong grips on my arms slacken. I jerked instinctively and they remembered themselves; pressing me harder against the wall. I slumped, my head down.

"Just having some fun Darrel," My head flew up. It was Darry Curtis. His eyes caught mine and I was instantly reassured.

"Maybe you should find someone else, someone who isn't so...feisty. Wouldn't want you to get hurt."

He smirked at his nod his companions stepped forward. The blonde tipped his head toward the car. His friends dropped me and I fell to the ground with a thud. All three of them were in the car and down the street before I could stand up. I looked up at Darrel through my hair. He walked to me and knelt down. In a voice that only I could hear he asked me if I was alright. My hands trembled as I tried to shove my hair out of my face and answer him at the same time. He stood up and took both my hands in his as he had done months ago and pulled me up close to him. Inches of light and our clasped hands were the only things between us. Had it really only been two weeks since I had seen him last? It seemed like such a long time. Our eyes locked and I tried to smile, but couldn't. He was being so gentle, but his hands were so rough. I was shaking. He looked worried, his eyes searching mine and looking me over for injuries alternately. I opened my mouth, but my tongue wouldn't work. He started to pull me closer. Someone behind us cleared his throat. We both spun around, our hands flying to our sides. I felt a rush of warmth go up my neck. Sodapop, Ponyboy, Two-Bit and Steve were watching us with grins on their faces. I backed away from Darry into the shadow the wall I had been pressed against created to hide my flaming cheeks, chiding myself for allowing him to hold my hands like that.

"'Spose you boys ought to get to that movie." He stated without looking at them.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to walk this lady home, or where ever she so desires to go." I saw Steve and Two Bit exchange glances and Steve nudge Soda before they all walked on. Darry turned to me.

"You go on to the movie, Darrel. I was just going to the diner across the street, but I think I'll head home." He smiled.

"Well then, let's go." He held out his arm as I withdrew from the shadow.

"No, really, you go on and do what you had planned. I'll be fine."

"I really didn't have anything else planned."

"Surely you want to spend some time with your friends."

"Would you want to spend time with that group?"

"Well, maybe..."

"May I at least walk you home?"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything."

We were both fairly silent as we walked to my apartment. I was still shaking, from fright or from the cool night air I don't know which. Darry noticed and wrapped his jeans jacket around my shoulders. It was warm and it smelt good, like soap and something spicy I couldn't identify. We saw a shooting star slice through the night sky. And then another, and another. The sky was filled with falling stars.

"It's a meteor shower." Darry whispered we were half a block from my apartment.

"C'mon." I ran to the apartment and dragged him up the stairs to the small balcony off of my living room/bedroom. He raised his eyebrows at the huge pile of boxes in the middle of the floor, but didn't say anything. I grabbed a blanket and took off his jacket, replacing it with the blanket. I set his jacket on the bed and went outside. He was leaning on the guardrail, eyes fixed on the sky when I came out. From then on the sky sucked me in. We were both silent and enthralled by the beauty of the night sky. Slowly the stars stopped falling and when it was finally dark I sighed.

"That was beautiful."

"Yeah, yo—it was." I wrapped my blanket tighter and turned to step inside. "I'm glad you were the one I watched it with." He said softly. That caught me way off guard. I tripped over the doorway; my hand flew out to grasp the doorframe in a death grip.

"Yes. Well, I—Um, I've got to...That is, you've got to work tomorrow. I—We both need some sleep."

"Yeah." His husky voice was in my ear. I spun around to face him, backing into the living room. He took my hand in his.

"Thank you for letting me watch it with you, Angel."

He lifted my hand to his lips and gave it a courtly kiss before letting me retreat to the bed and hand him his jacket. Then with a soft, sweet, "I'll see you later," he left. After I closed and locked the door I sank to floor, shaking all over. I had never, ever been this flustered around a guy before. It didn't help that I was torn between such strong attraction to him and the fear of getting hurt again. I leaned my head back to rest on the door, my arms wrapped tightly around my legs. _What am I going to do?_


	9. Contemplation

**Author's Note: I felt so bad about making you wait that I sat down and squeezed out another chapter. Hooray! **

**Disclaimer**: I forgot last time, whoops. It's all S.E. Hintons. Good grief.

Chapter 9

I stood outside her door in disbelief at what I had just done. I don't know what came over me. I really don't know. What in the world had possessed me to whisper in her ear and kiss her hand? I heard the door lock and the bar of light disappeared from the bottom of the door. As I walked down the flight of stairs to the street my thoughts turned from my indiscretions to how beautiful she'd looked with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her hair spilling down her back, and her soft smile illuminated by the falling stars. Her enrapture with the stars had given me a chance to just look at her. Not in a perverted way. I couldn't do that to her. I had just examined her face, her slim fingers clutching the edge of the blanket, admiring the tilt of her chin and the way her lips tipped upwards. I thought about her volunteering at the orphanage. I could see her playing games with the kids, fixing hurt knees, and cradling the little girl she had been so worried about. She truly was lovely, inside and out. When I got home I was bombarded with teasing.

"'Spose you boys ought to get to yer movie." Sodapop drawled, hooking his thumbs in his belt loops. "I'm gonna walk this little lady home, or wherever she wants ta go."

"Oh Darry," Steve said in a shrill voice, "You go on to your movie." He leaned against Soda, clasping his hands over his heart.

"Naw, little lady, I want to go with ya and protect ya from those big bad Socs."

"Oh Darrel...How can I ever thank you?"

"Well now, I don't 'spose that you'd want to invite me in?" I tackled Sodapop onto the couch.

"HEY! Oof!" He shoved me hard so I was on my back and he was on top of me. "What was that for?" I grunted and shoved him off me onto the floor. He kept a good grip on my arms and pulled me with him. We rolled and wrestled for a while before we both were sprawled on the floor panting. Steve came to stand over me.

"So what'd you do over there Darry?" I swung my arm out and brought his feet out from under him.

"ACK!" He hollered, landing in a heap next to me.

"That'll teach you to make fun of a lady." Sodapop said on the other side of me. Steve just groaned.

"Why were gone for so long, Darry?"

"Shouldn't you be at a movie?"

"Nah, too boring."

"I though you like girls in bikinis."

"I can only take so much of them. Anyway, what took you so long?"

"I was watching the meteor shower."

"With the girl?" Steve asked. I sat up and pulled Sodapop up.

"What if I was?"

"Is that all you did?" Steve gave me a crazy grin. I stood up and dusted myself off.

"Yup."

"Oh." He looked disappointed. I went into the kitchen.

"You weren't thinking that Darry would do anything else, were you Steve?" Soda asked loudly in mock seriousness. I stuck my head out of the kitchen to glare at them.

"Who? Him?" Steve jabbed a finger at me, "Never!" He pretended to look aghast.

I rolled my eyes and went back in the kitchen. I could imagine them sharing grins, much like they had earlier that night. Thinking about earlier made me think about Angel again and seeing her pinned up against a wall with Paul Holden's fist aimed at her face. Anger washed over me like a wave. Paul and I used to be good friends; I'll even say best friends. But then we graduated and things changed. We'd had plans to go to Oklahoma State together the next fall, but my parents died in a car wreck a few scant weeks after graduation. I had to grow up overnight, and it was hard. Instead of practicing for fall football, I was working two jobs.

When September rolled around, Paul went to college, and I stayed home with my brothers. They needed me and I wouldn't let us be separated. Paul didn't understand. He thought that I should let them go to a boy's home and go on with my life. He knew about my intense desire to get off the wrong side of the tracks and make something of myself. He couldn't see how much my brothers needed me. He didn't hear Ponyboy screaming in the middle of the night, terrified to go back to sleep. He didn't see Sodapop crying when couldn't tie his tie for the funeral because Mom had always done that for him. He didn't understand how I felt my brothers couldn't make it without me. He said I was stupid to give up my dreams for them.

He'd gone on to college without me and became the captain of the football team. Every now and then I'd read about him in the newspaper and how he'd lead Oklahoma State to victory again and again. He would be a junior this year. He was studying to become a doctor the last I'd heard. I doubted if he'd actually become one, he changed his mind like the wind changes directions. But he was in college, doing what I could've done, and I was stuck here, roofing houses, letting my dreams collect dust. And that wasn't going to change anytime soon.


	10. Pepsi Cola

**Author's Note: HA! I did it! So I've reposted this what...Three times? You don't mind, do you?**

**Raine: **I like fluff. Fluff makes the world go 'round. I want to hear YOUR fluff. I can't wait till you get back and Luke tells you how he feels after a whole week--I think, was it just a week?—without you at his beck and call every single day. I LOVE RAISING HELEN! I must've used up a whole box of tissues during that movie...

**Sodapop's#1gurl: **I'm working on getting them together. More stuff has to happen first though. They will, just not yet. Don't you hate getting all flustered like that? I want to melt into the floor every time I act like a blabbering idiot in front of the crush of the week. It's just awful!

**nextbigthing: **YOU ROCK TOO! Thanks for the interesting review! I hate when my computer acts up. My dad just installed this new antivirus that makes it so SLOW! Ugh, I just want to throw it under a Mack truck sometimes...

_**Disclaimer: **Oh I wish!_

Chapter 10

**Darry's POV**

I banged on the door again and glanced down at Sodapop anxiously.

"Hang on Pepsi Cola, just a minute." I pounded on the door and yelled her name. "Angel! Oh please, Angel, come quick..."

I raised my fist again and almost knocked Angel on the head. She had a robe draped around her shoulders with a camisole and a pair of pajama pants under it. She shoved her hair out of her face and looked at me with bleary eyes that cleared up and registered shock when she saw Sodapop.

"Oh my..." She breathed before ushering us in. "Set him on the bed. What happened? Wait, no, don't tell me. I'm not sure I want to..." She trailed off and disappeared into the kitchen.

Steve jerked the blankets off the bed so Soda could lay flat on his back before I laid him down. She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened and she went deathly pale before she ran to the kitchen with me and Pony following her. She grabbed paper towels and threw a bowl at Ponyboy telling him to fill it with warm water. Then she ran to the tiny bathroom and grabbed hydrogen peroxide and bandages out of the medicine cabinet, muttering under her breath.

"What do you use? What do you use? Um...ointment...What kind? What kind? What kind?"

I put my hands on her shoulders and told her to breath. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. She then, broke away from me and grabbed a shoebox that had all sorts of medical supplies in it. She turned and flew out, then ran back and grabbed a few washcloths. She ran to where Sodapop and Steve were and groaned softly. "Oh my gosh..."

Soda looked really bad. Okay, he looked awful. His face was beat up almost beyond recognition, one arm was cut to shreds, and his shirt was torn and bloody. There was blood seeping into her sheets and I made a mental note to thank Steve for moving her blankets.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my, ohmy, ohmy, ohmy...Okay, we need to cut his shirt off...Oh my." She grabbed scissors out of a cup full of pens and pencils. "You do it. I can't..."

She handed me the scissors, shuddering. Gently, I lifted the shirt away from Sodapop's chest and cut it away from his body. I heard Angel gasp. He had dark, greenish bruises coving his chest and small gashes everywhere were spewing blood. I glanced at Steve, whose face was contorted with rage and then past him to where Angel was bathing Soda's face. Tears were pooling in her eyes and falling down her cheeks as she dabbed the cuts on his face. She rinsed the cloth out in the bowl Pony had placed on the bedside table and the water poured out red. She glanced up and met my eyes. I needed to get her out of here. She couldn't take this.

"Ponyboy." My voice was rougher than I meant it to be. "Little buddy, there's a grocery store a few blocks away. Take Angel down there and get Dramamine, aspirin, gauze, medical tape, and rubbing alcohol, okay?" He nodded and grabbed her hand, gently pulling her away from Soda. She stood up and leaned against him. He went red and looked at me. I jutted my chin towards the door and nodded at him. He was a really good kid.

**Angel's POV**

I was numb when Ponyboy led me out of my own apartment and down to the grocery store I had spent a Sunday two weeks ago popping in and out of from sheer boredom. Now Ponyboy was pulling me along, glancing back at me every now and then with a worried look in his eyes. He was pale too. Something the far recesses of my mind told me to snap out of it and take care of a kid who was bound to be hurting and scared right about now. I gave his hand a squeeze.

"He'll be okay, Pony." I hurried up so I wouldn't be trailing behind him like a lost puppy. He let go of my hand and grinned.

"Are you kidding me? That's nuthin'." My eyebrows rose with my realizing it. "I know, it looks really bad, but head wounds always bleed a lot. He'll be fine." His grin faltered a little bit. "He has to be okay. He just has to."

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. That kid had lost a lot in his short life. Fifteen and he'd lost his parents and two boys that were almost his brothers. What was worse he'd seen two of the people die. I couldn't imagine. And this was his brother he was talking about so nonchalantly. He was a tough kid. One tough kid.

When we got to the grocery store I snapped into action. I love to shop, even if it's for little things. We were in and out of that place in a flash. Except I had to give Ponyboy the money to pay for the stuff, because they wouldn't serve anyone without shoes on. But after he managed to mumble through the clerk flirting with him shamelessly we had been in there less than ten minutes.

When we got back Soda was sitting up and wincing as Darry cleaned a cut on his forearm. Two Bit was there and he and Steve were sitting on my kitchen counter surrounded by beer bottles. I immediately went over to them and promptly took the beer out of there hands and dumped their contents down the sink. I handed the empty bottles back to them and told them the next time they brought alcohol near me I would break the bottle over their head. After that I went over to Darry and Soda, who was looking at me with amusement. Soda's grin turned into a grimace when Darry pulled out a needle from my shoebox first aide kit.

"Did you get Dramamine?" Darry asked. Ponyboy threw him the bottle. "Four of 'em. Now."

"But Darry, I'll be out for hours!"

"Down four, right now."

"But---!" Ponyboy appeared at my elbow with a beer bottle. When he saw the look on my face he told me it was filled with water. I took a swig of it suspiciously before I let Soda have it. He swallowed them all in one gulp and leaned back.

"You know it takes 20 minutes for those to kick in." He told Darry.

"I know. Lay down."

"What?"

"Lie back down and close your eyes." Soda rolled his eyes and lay down. "You know, you're arm's bleeding too, you know," he mumbled, "someone turn off the light, huh?" I turned on a small table lamp and turned the overhead light out. "Thanks..." Soda mumbled, his eyes closing.

"Darry, c'mere."

**Darry's POV**

She pulled me over to the table where the lamp was and made me sit down. She then gently, with steady hands, began to clean my arm up. Her touch was soft, like butterfly wings.

"What happened?"

"Socs." She nodded.

"How'd this happen?" She motioned to the cut on my arm

"I walked up with Ponyboy and Steve when they were kicking him on the ground—I think he has a couple of broken ribs—So we ran up and started beating the heck out them. They had a blade...I guess he got me."

"How many were there?" I shrugged and hissed when the cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol touched my cut.

"Hold still, would you?"

"I think there were five."

"Why was he alone?"

"He's been off in his own world lately. He lost his girl awhile ago and he's still hurting from that. I never saw someone who was so in love..." Her eyes, which had been staring intently into mine, dropped down to my arm again. She placed a wad of gauze against the cut and taped it to my arm.

"All done." Her voice was soft. "It's a little deep, so be careful for a few days, would you?" Her hand lay lightly on my forearm. I put mine over it. She withdrew hers quickly and turned away from me.

"He's asleep now. You'd better stitch him up."

While I sewed up the worst of Soda's cuts she sank onto an overstuffed chair in a corner of the room. By the time I was done she was asleep. Two Bit was sitting against the wall and I couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep. Ponyboy was in the middle of the floor, lying on the blankets Steve had taken off Angel's bed. Steve was no where to be seen. I sighed and pulled a straight backed chair over to the bedside and reclined in it. I wondered briefly if she would mind that we'd all spent the night before I fell asleep.

When I woke up I didn't know where I was. I saw Two Bit leaning against a wall across the room and Ponyboy sprawled out on a pile of blankets in the middle of the floor. My neck ached and I was stiff all over. I was sitting in a chair next to a bed with Sodapop in it. Memories of the night before hit me like brick. I groaned and looked at Sodapop more closely. He had a real shiner on his left eye and his lower lip was spilt. There was a large cut from his temple all the way to his ear, but you could only see about an inch and a half of it. Or at least, that's all you'd be able to see, once the bandages came off. A door smacked closed behind me as Steve went on Angel's small balcony. Angel was curled up in an over stuffed chair, clutching a blanket that I'd thrown over her. As if on cue she opened her eyes, arching her back and stretching her arms above her head. Then she saw Ponyboy on the floor and Two Bit propped up against the wall. She shook her head in confusion.

"Morning sunshine," I said softly. She almost fell off her chair as she spun around to look at me.

"What—? Oh...Right, I remember now." She stood up and walked over to the bed. "How is he?"

"He'll be fine. His ribs'll mend up nicely if he don't move around too much. We'll take him home today."

"But if he shouldn't be moved..."

"I didn't say that. He'll be fine, don't worry."

"He can stay here for a few days...Until it's safer to move him."

"I'll take him home this afternoon. Right now, I need to get to work." Her eyes widened and she gasped.

"Oh no! What time is it!" She looked at her watch, another gasp. "Ten minutes!"

And she was off. Grabbing a skirt out of the closet and a green button up shirt off of the back of a chair, she disappeared into the bathroom. Three minutes later she was out, a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth and trying to put on a black shoe.

"Udder de bed shere's a dew like dis, gab it fo me, ill oo?"

"Huh?" A drowsy Two Bit and I asked at the same time. She spat out the toothpaste in the kitchen sink.

"A shoe like this one, under the bed, find it for me."

I bent down to look and she hurried to the kitchen.

"Hey, who made coffee?" She asked.

"That would be me." Steve came in off the balcony.

"Thanks." She grabbed two mugs and filled one of them with coffee and paused. "You don't drink coffee, do you? Sorry, forgot. What about..." She frowned and paused. "What about an apple?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Did you find that shoe?" I handed it to her. "Thanks. Here." She handed me an apple from a bowl on the counter. She bent down to strap on the shoe and grimaced. "Run in my nylons, drat. Oh well."

"Hey, Angel?"

"Hm?" She stood up and took a sip of her coffee.

"You've got four minutes."

"Crikes! I've got to go! Good morning Ponyboy, sorry to wake you! Bye!" She ran out the door and the stuck her head back in, "Don't forget to lock up!" And the she was gone. Steve nudged me to the window and I got a glimpse of her peeling out of the drive and practically hitting a mail truck. The mailman shouted out her and I heard her yell "sorry!" before she vanished down the street.

"You've got to get to work Dar," It was Soda. "You too, Steve." I sighed; my truck was parked six blocks away in an ally.

"C'mon Steve, let's get outta here. Two Bit? Go get your car and bring these two home, okay?" Two Bit saluted me.

"Sir! Yes sir!"

"Don't forget Darry, your company picnic is this afternoon!" Soda hollered after me as Steve and I left the apartment.

"Thanks Pepsi Cola!"


	11. Picnic in the Park

**Author's Note: I like this chapter...One of the character's is based on a real person and this is a GREAT way to get feelings out. Writing is a WONDERFUL outlet...**

**Raine: **I CHANGED it, did you see? Added stuff to chapter 10 two more times, which goes to show you never upload right after you finish writing something, it's bound to be missing a vital part.

_Disclaimer: Only in one of her books has S.E. Hinton created a scenario like the one at the end of the chapter, and I did NOT get it from her! Sheesh..._

Chapter 11

**Angel's POV**

My apartment was spotless when I got home early at twelve. The bed was made--with clean sheets even--the dishes that had been in the sink weren't there anymore, and even my bathroom was picked up. I wondered which one of the boys had done it, Two Bit or Ponyboy. Soda couldn't have and I was stumped as to how they'd gotten him down those stairs when he could barely sit up last night. I shrugged it off and set my bag of groceries on the counter. I started making my pasta salad for the company picnic at one thirty. I sighed softly as I thought of Darry and the night before. I liked him. I really liked him. There was definitely chemistry between us, but I didn't know how to act on it. My not so recent experience with Jim had completely obliterated my trust in men in general. During my thinking I had been slicing tomatoes with a sharp paring knife. I hadn't been paying attention to what I was doing and I sliced my finger.

"OW! OW! OW!" I shrieked as I ran to the sink and rinsed it until the bleeding had slowed. Seeing the cut wrapped up in a Band-Aid made me think about Darry. Darry had saved me from Jim. He'd held me close and didn't let go until I had made him. He had been gentle with me, treating like porcelain, when he'd cleaned the cut my father had inflicted on me. He had never once showed me any of the bad traits all the other men in my life had. I could give him a chance, couldn't I? After all everyone deserved a chance, didn't they? I could give him a chance. I stand to, couldn't I? What could it hurt?

I got to the country club the picnic was being held at as it was starting. There were blankets set out all over the place and people milling around everywhere. I joined ran to the row of tables that had been lined up to bear the heavy burden of all the food the employees of CRS Roofing had brought to deposit my bowl of pasta salad. When I turned around to join the back of the line, Darry was there, holding a chocolate cake.

"Hi!" We said at the same time, with matching expressions of shock.

"What are you--?"

"You work at--?" We spoke simultaneously.

"You first," We said at the same time and then laughed. He put his finger over my lips.

"You first," He lifted his finger.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to my company picnic. Since when do you work for CRS?"

"Since last month."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm Thompson's secretary."

"Wow."

"Small world, isn't it?"

"I guess so."

As we talked we moved to the end of the line, right behind a blonde girl who was wearing rather short shorts and a button up shirt tied around her middle so her back and belly button were exposed. Neither of us paid much attention to her until she stopped in the middle of the line, her lips puckered up and her brow furrowed. When Darry asked her what the matter was she looked at him apologetically.

"Oh, it's just that this cake looks so good, but it's so fattening and I just don't know whether or not to get a piece. I'm just so fat, you know?" I raised my eyebrows.

"You're skinny as a stick."

"Oh no, I'm not! Look at this!" She tried to pinch imaginary fat on her stomach. "Look at all that!" I rolled my eyes and glanced at Darry, almost dropping my plate when he responded to her:

"Why! You're not fat at all! You must weigh what? Like one twenty?" Her lip quivered.

"Am I really that fat!" She ran away from the table and dumped her plate in the trash.

"Good grief..." I muttered under my breath. I knew this girl. She was Michelle Coleridge, the biggest flirt this side of town and the niece of one of the co-owners of CRS. She was the kind of girl that stroked a guy's ego and played dumb, clingy, and sappy to get attention, male attention if at all possible. I knew she was a fake. Unfortunately, Darry didn't. He ran after her, apologizing, and soon had her draped over him.

"Darry! I'll be sitting over there! Darry!"

He obviously didn't hear me; in fact, Michelle was pulling him over to a sunny blanket and giggling shrilly. I rolled my eyes again and went to sit on an empty blanket in the shade of a huge weeping willow on the edge of the park. No sooner had I sat down when a pair of legs walked over. When I looked up, I saw Jonathan Park, Mr. Thompson's assistant, who I often saw running in and out of Thompson's office. He was a young man, maybe twenty-five or so and had the most adorable, "boy next door" blonde looks.

"Hi, Mr. Park," He flinched.

"Please Miss Conway, call me Jonathan, or Jon, if you like." I laughed.

"Well then, you must call me Angela, or Angel. That way I won't feel so old when you talk to me." He smiled

"Angela...I like that. So, Angela, how do you like working at CRS?"

The conversation went on, mostly small talk, when suddenly; Darry plopped down at my side. I glanced at him, slightly annoyed, and continued my conversation with Jonathan. He broke in and asked Jonathan to excuse me for a moment.

"I need to talk to her, just for a moment. I'm sorry." Jonathan dismissed us with a wave of his hand. Darry stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and when I stood up, he held onto it and pulled me onto one of the many paths that intertwined throughout the county club grounds.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that...thing back there. I didn't mean to leave you all by yourself."

I shrugged and pulled my hand away.

"You seemed to be having a good time..." I hated myself for using that pouty voice.

"I wasn't, really. I don't like girls like that, the kind that squeal and complain about their weight." I took several steps away from him and words poured out of my mouth before I could stop them:

"You looked like you were enjoying yourself. But if you don't like girls like her, what kind of girls do you like then?" His hands were on my shoulders and gently turning me to face him.

"I like girls like you." I felt my stomach drop at the look in his eyes. "I like you." His voice was soft as butterfly wings and before I knew what was happening, I kissed him.


	12. Water Fight

**Author's Note: Yes, I KNOW! It moved along really, really fast. But there is a REASON! I PROMISE! You just have to wait. Sorry about the quick time progression, but it needed to happen. **

**Raine: **I love picnics, they're so much fun. So she was a little forward, what would you do? I wish it was cloudy and rainy here. Actually, it might be this weekend...YAY!

**digitaldawn:** grinsbroadly You think so? I'm so glad you like it!

**Sodapop's#1gurl:** Thanks, I thought it was about time too. This chapter's kinda funky...Sorry about that. Enjoy!

_Disclaimer: IT'S NOT MINE! _

Chapter 12

**Darry's POV**

The kiss was soft, sweet, if anything, chaste. It seemed to last for years and only moments at the same time. When she pulled away she was blushing crazily.

"I—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that..." I was holding her, my arms around her waist, and all I could think about was how soft her hair was. She pulled away from me and ducked her head, refusing to meet my eyes. I closed the distance between us again and took her face in my hands, forcing her to look up at me.

"Why not?" Her eyes were sparkling with tears.

"I'm so sorry, Darry. I thought---Oh, I thought I was ready and then I didn't and then...I don't know what came over me, but I...I just...I can't---."

There was a high pitch giggle from behind us which ended her tirade and caused us to break apart abruptly. Jonathan Park and the blonde that had been complaining about her weight so much earlier came around a bend. He looked like he was having the time of his life, but when she saw us, she shrieked and ran up to me, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from Angel.

"Hi! Imagine you being on this exact same path! Oh!" She looked over at Angel and then back to me, "I hope we didn't interrupt anything..."

"Um..."

"Oh goody! Then she won't mind if I steal you for a few minutes." She tightened her grip on my arm.

"Well..." I looked back at Angel who was talking to Park several paces behind us. "I...um...I guess not."

"Fabulous!"

She shrieked the first syllable of the word so loudly I flinched, not that she noticed. She just kept chattering away. I kept glancing back at Angel, who was smiling; the tears that had been in her eyes had vanished without a trace. I tried to focus on what the girl...Michelle was it? Was saying. I tried to ignore the sound of Angel's laughter behind me.

After an antagonizing hour and a half of Michelle talking my ear off and watching Angel out of the corner of my eye I managed to escape. The weather was on my side because it started to pour and Michelle shrieked something about her hair and ran off to hide. I took the opportunity to grab my plate from the table that was quickly empting and run to my truck like the devil was after me.

Weeks passed quickly. And weeks turned into months that passed quickly too. Ponyboy went back to school and my days were filled with work and trying to go to Ponyboy's track meets. More often than not I didn't make it though. He told me that Angel had managed to get to a few though I didn't know how on earth she knew he was in track or when his meets were. I didn't see Angel very often, and when I did it wasn't for very long. Somehow she managed to find out when my lunch was scheduled and on some days she would drop by with a coke or a cookie that she'd made at the orphanage that weekend. When it got colder she'd bring hot coffee. We didn't get a chance to talk for very long because she was always running back to work. But I did get the chance to ask her over for Thanksgiving dinner. And she said yes!

On November 24th showed up at eleven thirty holding four pies and apologizing about two of them.

"They just didn't work! I'm not the greatest cook, you know, but you would think that...Well, anyway. I tried two and then I bought two in case they're just impossible to ingest." She laughed. "Sorry." I grinned.

"Wait 'till you see what Soda made, these will look fabulous." Soda stuck his head out of the kitchen.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" He rolled his eyes. I took her pies to the kitchen and she found herself a seat on the couch between Steve and Two-Bit who were watching the football game.

"So, big brother, when are you gonna make a move?" He draped an arm over my shoulder.

"I don't think I'm gonna." He removed his arm and stepped back to stare at me in shock.

"What!" He almost yelled, then clapped his ovenmitted hands over his mouth and said softer, "What?"

"I'm not gonna make a move." My ladies man brother looked at me quizzically.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think she's ready." He raised an eyebrow Two-Bit style.

"She's been visiting you at your lunch breaks for how long? And doesn't _she_ bring _you_ stuff? You've watched a meteor shower together. She should be eating out of the palm of you hand, Bro."

"I just don't think..."

"I'll make a move if you don't..." I jumped on him and we started to wrestle.

"Hey! Hey! HEY!" Soda and I stopped rolling around, which is kind of hard in our small kitchen and looked up at Angel sheepishly.

"Yeah?" I asked as I stood and pulled up Soda.

"Is there anything I can do?" Soda pretended to look offended.

"You! Helping out in my kitchen? I think not! You can't even throw a pie together!" She smirked.

"I'd like to see you try." Sodapop took both of our arms and led us to the door.

"The only thing _either_ of you will be doing is the dishes! Letting you touch something that could be eaten! HA!" He pushed us out of the room. We stood there, looking at each other.

"We could set the table." I suggested. She smiled.

"Alright."

When we went back into the kitchen Soda didn't even notice us. After we set the table he loaded us up with covered plates and bowls and set us "out! out! out!" to the living room. Five minutes later he yelled that dinner was served at the top of his lungs. The boys ran away from the football game and thundered to the food fast as lightening. I had to grab Ponyboy because he was reading through the whole thing. When he sat down at the table and saw Angel his eyes brightened.

"Hi Angel, what are you doing here?" She laughed.

"Your brother invited me."

"He did?"

"Yup, I did little buddy. You just weren't listening."

"Oh, say the blessing and let's eat then."

"It's your turn this year, kid." Soda said. Pony's face fell.

"Is it? Drat, couldn't Darry..." He looked at me with pleading eyes. I shook my head.

"No, absolutely not, the order would get messed up."

"Oh fine." Everyone looked at him expectantly. "Well, bow your heads and close you eyes!" he said, looking somewhat irritated. Everyone obeyed.

"Dear God, thanks for the food. Thanks for old friends and new ones. Say hi to Mom and Dad for us and tell them we miss them something awful. Please bless the food. Amen."

We opened our eyes and looked up. I saw tears in Angel's eyes, but she quickly blinked them back and told Ponyboy he'd done a good job. Sodapop then sprang up and started taking the covers off the plates. Angel's eyes widened and she nudged my arm.

"What is that?" She whispered, pointing to different things.

"The blue is mashed potatoes, the green is stuffing, I think...And the red rocks are actually rolls." Her eyebrows flew up.

"Oh...Okay." She bravely sampled all of it when it was passed to her and even compliment Soda on his stuffing, to which he beamed broadly.

"Sodapop, that was pretty good eatin'." Two-Bit said leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, Soda, that was good stuff." Ponyboy said closing his eyes and letting his head fall to one side.

"Even if it was strange and unusual," was Angel's comment which brought a ripple of laughter around the table. And one by one the boys got up and left the table to find more comfortable places to sleep off their gluttony. Soon it was just Angel and I sitting at the table. She stood up and started to stack plates on top of each other.

"Sodapop was just joking; we'll all do the dishes later." I stood up and took the plates from her, setting them back on the table. She picked them up and started towards the kitchen.

"Do them with me then."

She went into the kitchen and a minute later I heard water running in the sink. I rolled my eyes and started picking up dishes. It's actually quite fun doing dishes with someone else, especially someone like Angel. We talked a lot and joked and teased back and forth.

"You know, you can really pull off an apron." She said, rinsing off the last dish.

"Yeah?"

"Mm-hm."

"I bet you look good wet." She looked at me out the corner of her eye.

"What that got to do with--?" I squirted her with dishwater and she shrieked.

"Hey! I was right!" She grabbed the sprayer and got me in the face. I shook the water out of my face and sputtered.

"I can't believe you just did that." I said, stepping towards her. She stopped laughing and sprayed me before running towards the door. I ran behind her and picked her up.

"No Darry! NO!" She shrieked. "Don't you even think about it!" I headed towards the sink which was still full of dirty dish water. "Darry don't! Darry!" She hollered and started wriggling. Unfortunately, I slipped on the wet linoleum and we both went crashing to the floor, yelling and laughing. Her head landed on my shoulder with my arm under her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" She asked when we were both able to breathe again.

"Yeah, what about you?"

"Oh, I'm fine." She rolled over on her elbow and looked at me before she started laughing again.

"What?"

"You should've seen your face!" I laughed too.

"Man oh man, what I would've given for a camera right then!" I said, propping my head up on my elbow. It was then I realized our faces were mere inches apart, a position we hadn't been in since July. She stopped laughing as if she realized this too. And our heads were moving closer together and our eyes were closing and we were kissing. And she didn't even pull away.


	13. Drug Addict

Chapter 13

**Angel's POV**

I collapsed in my apartment around ten thirty that night. I had spent the afternoon at the Curtis's and then they had all come with me to the orphanage. I smiled, thinking of all the times the boys had almost said some bad words and then had hurriedly changed the word before it spilled out. Steve had had a really good time, which shocked me. Out of all the boys, Steve was the one I just didn't understand. He was reclusive and angry. The only time I'd seen him smile was when he was with Soda. Except for when he was with those kids. I wondered if he'd ever come visit them again. The sisters had adored them, all of them, and told them to come back whenever they wanted to.

I was brushing my teeth when it happened. My hands started shaking and I felt incredibly lightheaded, my heart was racing in a way that was frightening. It occurred to me that I hadn't taken one of Tommy's vitamins yet today. It'd been weeks since I'd forgotten. I opened the medicine cabinet and fumbled around, bottles clattering into the sink and onto the floor as a result of my shaking hands. The bottle was nearly empty when I opened it, but there were enough pills to get me through the week. I took two dry sank to the floor, leaning against the wall, I had to get some more from Tommy, and it had to be tomorrow. When I had stopped shaking and my heart rate was back to normal I was exhausted. I went to bed and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow; my last thought was of Darry.

Two days later I called Tommy right after work. He was actually home, which stunned me. He hadn't been home for the past two days. He sounded funny too.

"Heeeeeey...Angel. How you do—in, Sis?"

"Oh, I'm fine, what about you? You sound...drunk." He laughed hysterically at this. "Tommy? Tommy what's the matter?"

"I'm just fine! What about you? OH WAIT! I already asked you that!" He sounded almost giddy.

"Tommy..."

"What!" He started to giggle. I was getting scared, my brother didn't laugh like that.

"Tommy darling, I'm coming over. Hang tight."

"Righto, Sis!"

I hurriedly put on a sweater, took the steps to at a time to the first floor, and ran to my car. I ran two stoplights and thank God there weren't any police around as I sped to my old home. When I got there I practically flew to out of the car and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Tommy.

"Good gog..."

He was sitting on the porch railing in a muscle shirt and his boxers. It was at least forty degrees outside and the sky was cloudy and grey. It was supposed to snow that night. He had a cigarette in his hand and I felt a bubble of anger rise up in my chest.

"THOMAS JACKSON CONWAY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

He looked at me with such surprise that he fell off the railing and onto the porch.

"SIS! Are what...What is...Why're you here?" One sniff of the smoke made me realize it was marijuana.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SMOKING THIS STUFF! WHAT ARE YOU DOING SMOKING IN THE FIRST PLACE! YOU'RE FIFTEEN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" He just looked up at me and laughed.

"Gosh, Angel, you're funny when you're mad!"

"What did I do to deserve this? What did I do!" I muttered to the sky. I grabbed my brother's arm and hulled him up. Then I took the cigarette out of his hand and dropped it on the ground, stomping on it until it was in bits. I dragged him inside and threw him on the couch, still yelling. It wasn't until I was in the middle of a huge rant that realization dawned on me. He had sobered up just a little bit and was looking at me with wide eyes. I knelt in front of him and took his hands.

"Tommy, do you remember those vitamins you gave me right before I moved out?"

He nodded solemnly and then giggled again.

"Tommy! This is serious! I need to know, what exactly were those pills?"

He laughed.

"Tommy, what were they?" I tried to keep the rising panic out of my voice. "Tommy?"

"They were just pep pills, Angel. That's all. Don't," Yawn, "worry."

I sank back onto my heels. I was addicted to drugs. I was a drug addict. Omigosh, that's why when I went without them I got shaky. That's why my heart started racing. That's why I felt so lightheaded. My body needed those...things to function. I held my head in my hands. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. I looked up at my brother, who was passed out on the couch. I went upstairs to my brother's room and what met my eyes when I got there made me almost fall over. Bottles littered the floor, along with cigarette butts.

"He wasn't just high. He was drunk and high..." I whispered. I closed my eyes. "Oh, Mom, how could let this happen?"

I got a hold of myself and got to work. I grabbed a garbage bag from the kitchen and went back to his room and started throwing everything in it. I was shaking with rage. What kind of an idiot would give a kid all this? Hadn't anyone ever heard of alcohol poisoning? I was going to let my father have when he got home. I threw a bottle into the bag and it shattered. There went another, and another. Vodka! The moron! Did he want to die! He couldn't even drive yet! I had a sudden inspiration and looked under his mattress. When I actually found drugs, it was all I could do to choke back a scream of rage.

"Hello, Angel." I stiffened at the surprised voice of my father. I turned around to face the door, trying to push down the anger, trying to behave like a reasonable adult.

"Dad, we need to talk."

"Now Angel, it's not as bad as it seems, I promise."

"DAD! I found a bottle of VODKA! And drugs! Did you know he had drugs under his bed! Do you have any idea what that could do to him! He could die before he can drive! Is any of this making sense to you?" He had the grace to look a little stunned.

"He has drugs?" I threw the baggie at him. His eyes widened. I picked up another half empty bottle of hard liquor at threw it at the door. I missed terribly though, and it ended up shattering at his feet.

"Do you smell that? It's whiskey. YOU don't even drink whiskey. How did you not notice that your son's room reeked of liquor! HOW!"

"I thought it was just beer. He spends lots of time with his friends at parties. I just thought he drank a little too much. I didn't know..." I felt my mouth drop wide open and I exploded.

"You didn't know? Well of COURSE you didn't know! You've been to busy WALLOWING IN SELF-PITY ever since Mom left! You didn't even see how much he was hurting! You never knew how bad it hurt him to have Mom up and leave! You never ever knew how many times he cried himself to sleep, though I don't know WHY either of you loved that god-forsaken woman!" I started to cry then. "You never knew."

"Angel, baby..." He stepped over the broken glass, his arms open.

"NO! Don't you touch me! Don't you DARE touch me!" I screamed at him, dodging his arms and flying out of the room. I thundered down the steps and outside, slamming the door as hard as I could. Once in my car I peeled out of the driveway and drove aimlessly.

Once I was far away, someone on the East side, I think, I stopped my car on the side of the road and pounded the heck out of my steering wheel. I was aware of the horn going off a few times, but I didn't stop. I hit it and hit it and hit it. Over and over again, until I hit it the wrong way and I busted my knuckles open. Then I sat there, pouting, sucking on my bleeding knuckles, unconsciously crying. Outside the wind was blowing and snow was starting to fly. Someone knocked on my window. When I looked up, Darry was standing out there, looking in with concern. I opened my door and stepped outside, and without a moments hesitation I launched myself at him. His arms closed around me and I collapsed against him. I felt the small circles he was rubbing into my back and felt his warm breath in my hair as he told me everything was going to be alright and to calm down because he would take care of me. When I actually did calm down, he picked me up and laid me down in the back seat of my car. He then got into the front and drove me home, talking soothingly the whole way. When we got there, he tried to pick me up but I wouldn't let him. He settled for his arm around my waist all the way up to my apartment. The only time he let me go was when I unlocked my door and that's when it happened again.

I started shaking and got really warm, the lightheadedness kicking in. I swayed and Darry steadied me asking me if I was okay. I nodded and laid my forehead against the door for a minute. When I got the door open I went straight to the medicine cabinet. I didn't see Darry following me. I forgot everything except the fact that those pills made me happy. Those pills were drugs, but I didn't care, they made me happy. I needed to be happy. I grabbed the bottle with shaking hands and tried to shake all of the remaining pills out.

"What are you doing?" Darry's big hand was over mine.

"I need these." I shook him off and turned away from him.

"What are those? Angel, are those drugs?" There was panic in his voice that I didn't listen to.

"They just make me happy. I need them, Darry! I need them!" He grabbed the bottle out of my hand, much like I had done to Tommy an hour ago. Except I was more resistant.

"GIVE THEM BACK!" I shrieked, grabbing at his arm.

"No."

"I NEED THOSE! Give me them!"

"You don't need these Angel, I swear to you, you don't need them!"

"YES I DO!" I was seeing red. "GIVE ME THEM NOW!"

"No."

"YES!"

"No Angel."

"GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT!"

"Angel, please..."

"LEAVE NOW! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Angel, listen to me..."

"NO! GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL CALL THE POLICE!"

"Okay, I'll leave; just let me help you..."

"I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP! GET OUT NOW!" I was pushing him out the door and I slammed it and locked it behind him. "AND DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK!"

I flung myself on the bed, trying to forget the headache I had and the mournful look on his face.


	14. I Love You

**Author's Note: Well, I'm back. School started. Sorry you had to wait so long**

**Notes at the bottom.**

_Disclaimer: See any of the previous chapters._

Chapter 14

**Angel's POV**

I called in sick for a whole week. I didn't bother getting out of bed for almost two days except to run down to the grocery store in my pajamas to buy more chocolate and rent more movies. I took to eating chocolate frosting straight out of the can, yelling at the TV, and throwing half eaten chocolates at it. I got so loud one day that the landlord came over and to tell me to quiet down and ended up sending his wife over a half and hour after he left to take care of me. She got me to get up and take a shower and even pick up all the boxes of half eaten chocolate and the empty cans of frosting. When she wished me a merry Christmas before she left I was caught completely off guard.

"When is Christmas?" She frowned.

"Three days dear. Goodness, you really have been out of it, haven't you?"

"You could say that..."

"I hope everything gets straightened out before then. Give me a ring if you ever need anything, okay?"

"I'll remember that, Mrs. Stratton. And thank you so much for everything."

"Good bye dear."

When she left I looked around my dim apartment and jumped in bed to fall into a deep sleep, the first in five days. When I got up there was a small patch of light on the floor. It hit me that I hadn't turned on more than one small table lamp in five days. On impulse I threw open the curtains on every window and turned on every light in the house. My eyes hurt from the brightness, but I could get used to light again. I sat on my window ledge and looked out on the freshly fallen snow that sparkled in the bright sunshine. It reminded me that there was still good in the world, something I'd forgotten when Darry left me.

Darry, his name made me want to turn off all the lights and hide under the covers again. What had I done? What on earth had I done? I needed to talk to him, and it had to be today. But it would have to wait. He didn't get home until late because of his jobs and I needed to talk to him longer than the ten minutes that he had for lunch. Then it hit me, tonight was the company Christmas party, I'd just see him then.

I found the dress I'd worn for my senior prom. When I put it on and it still fit I thanked God that I hadn't let my friend convince me to buy the pink princess dress she liked so much. This one was a beaut'. It was a white satin V-neck that didn't go too low, the tops of the V tapering off into straps that criss-crossed to my mid-back. The skirt was full and went down past my ankles, swishing whenever I took a step. I did my hair in a complicated upsweep that I had learned from my mother from watching her get ready for parties when I was little. I put on teeny diamond earrings, which I was convinced were the only diamonds I'd ever own and hoped I would be able to walk in my high heels. I looked in the mirror and hoped that Darry would be impressed enough by what I wore that he'd forgive me for being so awful. A long shot, but I needed all the help I could get.

Bu the time I got to the upscale reception hall that the party was being held at it had already begun. I didn't mind. I kind of liked making an entrance. I flung the doors open with both hands and took in the room, remembering what my mother had said about first impressions and how to make a grand entrance. After my coat had been removed I scanned the room, searching for Darry. My heart stopped when I saw him. He looked as handsome as ever and was smiling at a lovely blonde girl. I shook when I realized it was Michelle Coolidge, the girl who'd thrown herself at Darry months before. She was sitting on the arm of his chair, laughing hysterically at whatever he'd said, leaning towards him as if to show off her plunging neckline to the best possible advantage. I heard a strangled cry and upon the realization that it'd come from me, I spun around and flew from the room. I ran through the parking lot, hitting quite a few cars that I didn't make out through the blur of my tears. I came to a stop underneath a street lamp and bent over to catch my breath. That's when I heard someone calling my name. I turned around to see Jonathan Park running after me.

"Are you alright?" He asked, taking my arm and looking at me worriedly.

"Oh, I'm just peachy," I mumbled.

"I saw you running out and ..." He trailed off, peering at me with a funny look on his face.

"I—I'm fine, I just saw something that...uh...distressed me." He frowned, looking very sympathetic.

"Do you mean Curtis and Coolidge?"

"I...er...yes, I guess I do..."

"Yes, well," he squeezed my shoulder, "I'm sure you're too good for him anyways."

"Oh, I know I am! And if that's the kind of trash he chooses to associate then I want nothing to do with him!" My voice caught in my throat and I started to stomp off. I stopped though, when I stomped into a huge puddle of slush and icy water. Instantly he was at my side, his arm around my waist, his hand resting just above my hip as he pulled me out of the water and towards the parking lot again.

"We need to get you inside, Angel. You'll freeze." I moved out of his arms.

"Oh no! I can't go back in there! I couldn't...It'd be horrible!" He smiled at me.

"Alright then, my car's not to far from here, why don't I drive you to someplace warm without Curtis inside it?" I tried to smile, though the proposition made me a little bit uncomfortable.

"Okay, coffee sounds good."

He put his arm around me again and his finger brushed against my breast. I ducked from under his arm and moved ahead of him.

"So, where are you taking me?" I asked, my words coming out between chatters.

"You're freezing, aren't you? Here, take my jacket." He took it off and put it over my shoulders, his hands running down my arms. I felt his warm breath on my neck and then the caress of his lips on the nape of my neck.

"I don't think we should be doing this." I said, trying to step away from him.

"Why ever not?" His words tickled my ear. "I want you, Angel." His lips went down my neck and I squirmed out of his grasp.

"I really should get home."

"No, Angel. Not yet." He grabbed me and shoved me against a car, capturing my mouth and kissing me with passion. I couldn't kiss back. Instead, I fought him.

**Darry's POV**

I was getting nervous. It had been almost fifteen minutes since Angel had came in and ran out with Jonathan Park in tow. I just hadn't been able to get rid of Michelle. Park had come over to me with her on his arm just after I'd come in, and she hadn't left me alone. I had tried to be courteous to her, but after Angel ran out I just couldn't pay any attention to her. I finally excused myself and ran outside. I searched the parking lot and almost went back inside when I heard a scream.

I took off at a dead run and finally found them. I saw Angel crumple to the ground before Jonathan Park leapt on top of her. I flew towards them and jerked him off of her before wrapping my hands around his throat and squeezing with all my might. His face was full of terror and there was a blood pouring from a spilt lip. He was gasping for breath and pulling on my arms helplessly, which made me increase the pressure. He was going to die for hurting her. He would die.

"Darry?" Her voice brought me to reality. I couldn't kill him. But I sure could hurt him. I started pounding the heck out of him. "Darry? Stop...Darry..." Her voice was whisper soft. I dropped Park and he fell to his hands and knees, coughing and spewing blood.

I knelt next to her, pulling her into my arms. She was soaked through, her dress was torn at the neckline, and purple bruises were already showing up on her lips.

"Darry? Is it you?" She was so pale in the moonlight and so cold. I kissed her forehead and brushed the hair off her face.

"Yeah, baby, it's me." I took me coat off and draped it over her, picking her up and walking towards my car.

"Are you horribly mad at me? For yelling at you?" I choked back a sob.

"No, baby, no I'm not mad at you. Oh baby, stay with me, okay?" She nodded and I put her in my truck, driving with one hand on the wheel, one arm around her, the heater blasting.

"Darry, I'm so sleepy..."

"Stay with me hunny, okay? You need to stay awake, okay?"

"Alright...He tried to hurt me, Darry." I gripped the steering wheel harder.

"I know baby, I know. But I'm here now, and he won't ever touch you again, I swear."

"I was so scared..."

"I know sweetheart, I know."

"Don't leave me Darry, don't ever leave me."

"Never in a million years."

"Promise?"

"I swear to you."

"Even when I get mad and do stupid things?"

"Angel, I love you, I won't ever, ever let anything hurt you ever again, okay?"

"Okay."

We drove along in silence for several minutes when suddenly, she sat up and looked at me.

"I love you too, Darry." And then she kissed me.

_Fin_

Thank you to all of my fabulous reviewers: rhaine, Amber, SodapopCutrisDX, nextbigthing, Tehsylvania, Sodapop's#1gurl, CrazyAlchemistgrl017, Bex, Raine Ishida, digital dawn, and Caitym. THANK YOU!

And a huge, colossal thank you to all my steady reviewers: Sodapop's#1gurl, nextbigthing, and Raine Ishida, I appreciate you guys so much and I seriously couldn't have done it without all your encouragement! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!

God bless you all, email me if you want to, love you all!

I'll be back, don't worry.


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